Book 2: The Strength Of My Determination
by FantasyMajesty
Summary: This is a sequel to "Book 1: The Love Of My Life". Lin is back to being Chief of Police and Emi has been upgraded to second in command which means work is to be done. When someone bombs buildings and dark spirits threaten the city, will it have more of an impact on Republic City or on their relationship? Mostly K , but might go up to T. Nickelodeon owns Legend of Korra.
1. Chapter 1

**Book 2: Spirits**

 **Sorry this took so long to get out! I've been hella busy! Just start yelling at me if I do this again, and I'll hopefully hear it. We will yet again be following Lin and her new roommate and girlfriend Emilia as they go through Book 2 with explosions and tension. Will they make it through a worldwide damaging spirit war while also maintaining a strong relationship? Let's find out!**

"Mako caught another one!"

Emi stepped into Lin's office without knocking like she usually did. Since they had moved in together and everyone knew they were a thing, they didn't bother with the police greeting rituals or rules. When they had gotten back from the South Pole, Tenzin helped Lin and Emi regain their jobs right where they left them except now Emi was second in command after Saikhan resigned.

Emi placed Mako's arrest report on Lin's desk before Lin spoke.

"That kid is on a roll," Lin said, picking up the report and flipping through it, "I would have never thought that he would be such a good officer with his criminal record, but listening to you usually makes something amazing happen."

"Well I guess I have that effect on people," Emi chuckled as she sat down in the chair across from Lin's desk. She had been the one to offer Mako a job as a B-Cop after she had gotten her job back. She had been impressed with Mako's detective skills when they were looking for Korra, and she knew he would make a great detective someday if he kept at it.

"I wish I had the same effect on our new President however," Emi grumbled with anger, "I mean who walks into the newly instated Chief of Police's office, threatens that he will fire her if she makes one mistake, and then flirts with her? It's absolutely insane."

"Well he was elected by our citizens," Lin said with a sigh, "We're going to have to deal with him for now."

"I'd make a better President than him," Emi continued to rant, "I would fill this city with sunshine and rainbows without even lifting my finger."

"I don't doubt it," Lin chuckled at Emi pouting, "If you can fill a grumpy, old lady like me with happiness, you could make the whole world glow."

"Stop saying the word 'grumpy' or 'old' when referencing yourself," Emi scowlded, "It just evaporates your confidence, and I hate seeing you depressed."

"Fine," Lin said as she looked back down at her paperwork that littered her desk, "And I meant to tell you sooner, but we have a new case down by the docks. Apparently there was a report of a firebender threatening boat owners to give him their boats and the insurance that comes with them. If you want to go on a stakeout tonight with Akira or Song or someone like that, you could get some intel on it. I know you like stakehouts, so I saved it for you."

Lin handed Emi the case file, and she greedily took it.

"Thank you!" She said as she started to look through the case file, but then looked up at Lin with a annoyed expression, "Will I have to report to Lu and Gang about this?"

"Goodness no," Lin said, "You're second in command. You report directly to me."

"Oh thank goodness," Emi said with a breath of relief, "I want to stay as far away from those knuckleheads as I can."

Lin just shook her head.

"Have fun," she said with a smile.

"Love you," Emi said before giving Lin a kiss on the cheek over her desk and then stepping out of her office.

"Love you too," Lin said back before going back to her paperwork.

"Oh no," Lin said as she looked down at the morning newspaper.

"What is is?" Emi yawned as she stretched her back out. It was early in the morning, and the sun hadn't even come up. This was Lin and Emi's ritual every morning being the heads of Republic City's security. They were in the living room of their condo they had gotten 5 months earlier, and they were in their pajamas. They had just woken up.

"Korra has just caused a Civil War between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes," Lin said without any emotion, almost like she had guessed the Avatar would do something like this.

"What?! Emi cried, taking the newspaper from Lin. The headline was 'Civil War Erupts between North and South: Is the Avatar Really Responsible?'.

"I read the entire article," Lin said, crossing her arms over her chest, "It does seem like Korra is slightly responsibly, and even better, the whole city will see this article."

"How many of our citizens are from the poles," Emi asked, getting ready for the answer.

"About 37%," Lin answered and sighed with annoyance.

"Great," Emi said sarcastically, "Now we have to get ready for the protests and rallies."

"Let's get going," Lin said as she followed Emi into their bedroom to get changed.

After they had gotten their uniforms on, the two metalbent their way onto the electricity cables and made their way over to the station (which was thankfully only a couple blocks away). Lin and Emi stayed on guard the entire day, waiting for a call to come in about possible protests. Emi stayed at her desk in the room just outside of Lin's office where all the detective's desks were. Emi kept checking her desk phone for new voicemails or calls about anything violent. She only looked up from her work one time to glare at Lu and Gang who were laughing too loud. Lin was in her office also waiting for any information while she filed her paperwork for the day. They got nothing all morning until Lin got a call just after noon.

"This is Chief Beifong of the Republic City Police Department," Lin said into the phone after she picked it up.

"Listen Beifong," It was President Raiko, "I've gotten word from the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center about a supposed peaceful march happening outside their center. I need you and your best officers there tonight to keep it under control. The last thing I need is some protesters ruining my time in office."

"We'll be there, sir," Lin responded through the phone, but couldn't help rolling her eyes at Raiko's selfishness.

"You better, for your sake," Raiko said before he aggressively hung up the phone. Lin rolled her eyes again. Raiko was trying to intimidate her with his power, but Lin wasn't moved. Lin guessed that he was sexist, and probably thought she couldn't handle the job as Chief. Well, she'd show him how capable she was.

Lin heard a knock on her door, and gave the person knocking her permission to enter. Lin's mood darkened when she saw it was Lu and Gang that came into her office.

"Some officers near the docks caught the Triad Crime Lords that Captain Emilia reported that the firebender was selling his stolen boats to," Lu said as he smoothed out his mustache, "We were going to go check it out."

"I'm coming with you," Lin said, standing up from behind her desk, "I need to stretch my legs."

Emi had watched as Lu and Gang had entered her girlfriend's office, and watched now as Lin came out of her office with Lu and Gang trailing behind her.

"Em," Lin called to her second in command as she headed out of the room, "Come with us."

Emi was more than happy to get out from behind her desk. She caught up with Lin and walked alongside her with Lu and Gang behind them.

"What's up Chief," Emi asked, happy to be in Lin's presence again.

"Some officers caught the Crime Lords you were talking about down by the docks," Lin told her as they exited the station, "We needed to bring a truck for them to use to take the criminals to prison where they belong."

"Sounds like fun," Emi said as she skipped down the steps to a Police Truck that was already parked outside. Emi got into the driver's seat before Lin could open the door.

"I'm driving," Emi said with a smirk, "I'll be your butler for the day."

"That's nothing new," Lin smiled as she shook her head and got into the passenger's seat. This reminded Lin about the time when she had gotten rambed by one of the Triple Treat Triad's fancy cars, and Emi had massaged her back for days afterwards.

With Lu and Gang in the back seat, Emi started driving towards the docks.

"Also," Lin spoke to Emi as they drove past Republic City's square and market area, "I got a call from Raiko. He said that there is going to be a peaceful march tonight at the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center, and that he wants us to be there to keep it safe."

"Wow," Emi responded as she stopped at a red light, "That doesn't sound like Raiko at all. Putting the city before himself."

"He ended the call saying he didn't want the protest to ruin his time in office."

That makes more sense," Emi said as she pulled up to the docks. There were two waterbending officers there with three handcuffed men in blue, expensive suits on the ground. There was also a very expensive, pretty wrecked up Satomobile on its side close by.

Lu and Gang opened up the backdoor to the truck, and the officers hauled the Crime Lords into it. Emi and Lin hoped out of the truck, and Emi almost laughed when she saw who was at the far end of the nearest dock and was getting out of a Varrick Industries boat. Emi nudged Lin with her elbow, and pointed to the dock.

"Oh great," Lin said sarcastically as she and Emi walked down the dock to greet the young Avatar.

"Welcome home Avatar," Lin said with no emotion, "Thanks for starting a war."

"I didn't start a war," Korra argued, immediately going on the defensive, "Well… I did… but it's more complicated than you're making it seem."

Lin chose to ignore Korra's frantic attempts to clear her name, and instead focused on Mako who was standing next to Korra, his girlfriend.

"Mako, I want you back on the beat," Lin told him, "There's going to be a Southern Water Tribe peace march tonight, and I need you there to make sure things don't get out of hand."

"I'm all yours," Mako told the Chief before Korra spoke.

"I'll go too," she said, making Emi shake her head, "The people of the South need to see that the Avatar is on their side in the fight against the Northern invaders."

"Great," Lin said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes for the third time that day, "That should calm them down."

Lin turned and started walking down the dock again. Emi stayed back for a minute.

"Nice to see you guys again," she said, "I'm sorry about what's happening in the South, but Korra getting caught up in all of this will only make it worse. I know everything is more complicated than it seems, but the one thing we police officers hear when we hear war is violence. It's just more work to keep the City safe now that we've got more conflict. Please think about what you do before you do it."

"Yeah Korra," Mako agreed with Emi, "Maybe you should sit this out."

"What," Korra turned to Mako in disbelief.

"I just think having you there blantingly supporting one side will only make things worse," Mako continued, "You could at least try to seem neutral."

"I'm not neutral," Korra said defensively, "The North invaded my home. The only reason I'm here is to get the Republic to send troops to help the South."

"Well you guys have fun with President Raiko," Emi said with annoyance, "He doesn't tend to see anyone else's reasoning. He's very stubborn and selfish."

Emi looked over Mako and Korra's shoulder to see Asami, Bolin, Zhu Lee (Varrick's assistant), and Varrick himself.

"Welcome back to Republic City, Mr. Varrick," Emilia said to the inventor, "I hope your stay here this time won't be as eventful as it was last time."

"Why thank you," Varrick said with his goofy smile, "And speaking of past events, did you happen to find my gold, diamond encrusted cufflinks yet?"

"We did," Emi answered, "They're at the Police Station as we speak. You can come by anytime to claim them."

"Fantastic!" Varrick said, giving Emi's hand a strong shake that almost knocked her off her feet, "I like you. It's so hard to come by a beautiful, intelligent, and kind police officer these days."

"I don't know about that," Emi said, having met quite a few police officers that fit that description, "But I will take your compliment nonetheless."

"Great," Varrick said, his smile never fading, "I'll come by the station within the week to collect my cufflinks."

"Alright then," Emi said as she turned to leave, "See you guys around."

Team Avatar waved to her as Emi walked back down the dock to where Lin was waiting for her. The truck was gone which made Emi raise an eyebrow.

"Where did the truck go?" Emi asked Lin.

"I sent it back to the Police Station," Lin said with a smile, "Let's walk over to the Cultural Center. I haven't seen you all day."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

 **I know everyone wants longer chapters, so I'll give you this one but it won't be a reoccurring thing for this book. This book is only 90 pages compared to my last book's 197. Lin, unfortunately, doesn't show up a bunch in this season of Legend of Korra, so it would have been even shorter if I hadn't improvised a bit.**

 **People have also been asking me to have Emi give Lu and Gang, but especially Raiko, what they deserve for being super ungrateful and annoying from Book 1, and I'm here today uploading this to answer those demands. Without further a do, Chapter 2!**

Emi smiled as she walked side by side with Lin through the city. Lin was the first to break the silence.

"So," She said, "What were you talking to Team Avatar about when you were on the dock?"

"At first I was just trying to get Korra to change her mind about coming to the march tonight, but then I started talking to Varrick about the last time he was here."

"Who's Varrick?" Lin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come on! He's the funny, random guy that came to Republic City last month to sell his extensive supply of water tribe fish and meat, but his hotel room ended up getting robbed. He's the multi-millionaire that controls the entire global shipping industry. It's called _Varrick_ Industries, and it also invents crazy new gadgets every second. It was the one robbery case where the lower members of the Agni Kai Triad were trying to prove themselves to their new boss, but did an awful job at covering their tracks. They were the ones who stole the gold cufflinks with the diamonds we found that belong to Varrick."

"Oh right," Lin said, now remembering, "Wasn't Varrick the one who said that I was terrifyingly beautiful?"

"Yep, that was him," Emi said with a laugh as they entered the square and market they had seen coming in, "He just says what's on his mind. It's hard to make him shut up."

"It's hard to make a lot of people shut up from what I've learned," Lin said as she watched Emi look around the bustling marketplace.

"Wow this place almost looks as busy as the Police Station," Emi said in wonder, "I've never been to a place that is even remotely close to the business level of the Station."

"If you've never been here, we need to go to the Kishi's Sushi tent," Lin said, leading Emi down a row of marketplace tents, "I've had her sushi since I was a kid, and it is still amazing."

"I could use something to eat right about now," Emi said as they continued to walk. They soon came to a tent with the banner above saying 'Kishi's Sushi! The best sushi in Republic City!'. There was an old lady sitting behind the table where displays of many different kinds of sushi were being presented, and it all smelled delicious.

"Lin," the old lady, that Emi guessed was Kishi, said as she got up slowly from her chair, "I haven't seen you in ages."

"Yes, I'm sorry about that," Lin said as Kishi gave her a hug that Lin had to bend down to return, "Everything has been hectic at the Police Station since Amon's war."

"Oh yes, that war was awful. I've been in this city since it was only a couple of small huts, and an island in the bay where the Avatar was starting to build his temple. It was so sickening to watch it turn to conflict," Kishi said, looking very sad for a minute before her face lit up again, "But I shouldn't dwell on the past especially since I have very little future left. Would you like to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

"How did you…?" Emi began to ask before Kishi cut her off.

"Even though this city is very big, young one, word travels fast here," she said, "But I never did hear a name with the rumors."

"My name is Emilia," Emi said, giving the old lady a respectful bow, "I've been told by Lin that you make delicious sushi."

"The best in Republic City, my dear," Kishi said, going back around her table to sit in her chair, "I've been making my grandmother's recipe for almost a century, and it never strides away from the fine line of extraordinary."

"Well then," Emi said, casting her eyes down to the display table, "I'll have one of every, single kind please!"

"You said you would like _something_ to eat," Lin laughed, "Not everything."

Kishi laughed too as she started to put a piece of every kind of sushi in a bag.

"I'm happy that someone from such a younger generation is even paying attention to me right now," Kishi said, "I appreciate you being so excited about the food that takes me hours to make every day."

Kishi finished her task, and gave Emi the bag.

"This is free of charge, ladies," Kishi said, "For your effort and work for this wonderful City."

"No, I can't possibly," Emi said, getting her wallet from a pouch on her armor's belt, "Is this enough?"

Emi placed down 20 paper yuans on the table, and Kishi's eyes went wide.

"Sweety, I can't take all of this," Kishi said, trying to give Emi back her money, but Emi persisted.

"No, please take it," Emi said, pushing the yuans back, "Take it as a thank you for giving Lin a good memory for her childhood."

Kishi smiled and gave an "alright" as she put the money in the pouch around her neck. With a final goodbye to the old lady, Emi and Lin started back on their way to the Cultural Center.

"Oh my goodness," Emi said as she ate piece after piece of sushi, "She wasn't lying when she said it was the best in Republic City."

"Isn't it great?" Lin asked, smiling at how much Emi liked it, "My mom on her off days, which were usually Saturdays when the marketplace closed later than usual, would take me and my sister there to get sushi for our dinner. We never got tired of it."

Emi presented a piece of sushi to Lin which Lin took and, without hesitation, put it in her mouth.

"While you had sushi as your end of week treat," Emi said as she continued to eat, "I had Fire-Baked Cake Pops. They were to die for! When you come to the Fire Nation with me, I'm going to have to take you to the town bakery."

Lin looked at Emi with surprise.

"You want to take me to your house town?" Lin asked nervously.

"Well, of course," Emi said instantly, as they passed the entrance to a dark alleyway, "I'm going to share everything with you just like you are with me. You will also need to go visit the Lavabird's hatching grounds by the volcano. Those birds are so cute, and their feathers are so beautiful. But you need to watch out because they've been known to bi…"

Lin suddenly covered Emi's mouth with her hand to make the younger woman stop talking. Lin stood perfectly still, and Emi realized she had heard something that made her uneasy. Lin slowly took her hand away from Emi's mouth. Emi didn't make a sound either as she tried to pick up the noise Lin was hearing.

Emi heard the sound of wood hitting something, of someone yelling frantically, and an animal in yowling distress. Lin took off at a run down the alleyway with Emi on her heels. Emi saw in the middle of the alleyway three teenage boys with sticks hitting something while a little girl was trying to stop them. One of the boys pushed the girl over, and raised his stick to hit her. He would have too if it hadn't been for Lin's quick hand snatching the stick. Lin broke the stick in half with her bare hand, and grabbed the boy by his collar. The other two boys freaked when they saw the two cops, and turned to flee. Emi shot out her cables, wrapped them around the boys' waists, and pulled them back. She then continued to grab their collars too, and hoisted them in the air, so they couldn't escape. Lin growled at the boy she was holding, but her face softened when she saw the look of complete fear on his face. Lin looked at the two boys Emi was holding, and saw the same faces. These were just kids trying to be the 'cool ones', but Lin hoped this encounter would change their point of view.

"If I ever here or see you doing anything like this again," Lin screeched in his face, "You'll go to jail for the rest of your natural born lives, you hear me?"

The boy nodded his head desperately at the infuriated Chief of Police. Lin turned her heated gaze on the two other boys who also quickly nodded their heads too.

"Good," Lin said before she dropped the kid to the alleyway floor, "Now get out of here!"

He didn't need to be told twice. He bolted down the alleyway faster than a rampaging Falcon-cheetah. Lin gestured to the two boys Emi was holding onto.

"Let them go."

Emi released her grip on the boys, and they ran after their other associate. Emi then turned to look at the little girl who was still on the ground. Emi reached down, and picked up the girl. The girl put her little arms around Emi's neck, and Emi could feel her shivering in fright. Lin looked down at the animal that the boys had been beating. It was an owlcat that thankfully appeared to be getting up. Lin reached down, and picked up the owlcat. The owlcat didn't protest, but instead tried to reach out to the girl. The girl turned her head to look at the animal.

"Come here Pika," She said, extending her arm to the owlcat. The owlcat jumped out of Lin's arms and extended its arms. He extended his wings and beat them over to his human. The little girl hugged the owlcat to her chest as Emi rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"Are you alright, cutie?" Emi asked the girl, clearly worried about her condition.

"I'm okay," the girl said, leaning back enough to look Emi in the eyes, "Thank you for the help. Pika appreciates it too."

The owlcat gave a meow in acknowledgement before giving Emi a nuzzle under the chin.

"We're happy to help," Emi smiled at the girl, "Is their anywhere we can take you? Perhaps back to your parents?"

"My parents aren't around anymore," The girl said, pressing Pika closer to her chest, "They left me in an alleyway just like this one when I was smaller than I was now and said they would be back to get me soon. They never came back, so I started roaming the streets for food and shelter. I'm staying the nights with this nice, old man just down the road, but I spend the days by myself while he's at his job. I'm okay. No need to take me to child jail."

"Child jail?" Emi asked in confusion.

"I just call it that, but the technical term is orphanage," the girl said before looking up at the darkening sky above them, "I better get going before my host starts to get worried. Thanks again for your help."

Emi set the kid down, and she turned to leave.

"Wait!" Emi called to her before she could go, "What's your name?"

"The man I'm staying with calls me Hisa," the girl said, "I can't remember the name I was born with."

"Well Hisa," Emi said, "If you're looking for a place to stay during the day, just come down to the police station and ask for Emi or Lin at the front desk, okay?"

"Okay," Hisa said as she held Pika, "Thank you!"

Hisa then turned away, and ran down the alleyway in the other direction from where Lin and Emi had come from. Emi watched the girl safely exit they alleyway before turning to Lin.

"I'm glad we took that walk," Emi said as they started to walk out of the alleyway.

"We too," Lin said

When they got to to the cultural center, Lin was happy to see that her orders had been heard and done. There were multiple police trucks stationed outside the blockade of metal police barriers that would be keeping the Southern Water Tribe protesters away from the possible Northern Water Tribe supporters. There were police officers everywhere. Metalbenders, other benders, and Non-benders alike were stationed at their specific stations, and Lin smirked with pride.

"Raiko can't complain to me about how efficient my officers are anymore," Lin whispered to Emi as they walked towards Song, Akira, Jiro, and Naoko, who were all standing underneath the large statue of Sokka that stood tall outside of the center. Song had a clipboard with everything Lin had ordered him to do written down on it, and was telling lost officers where to go. Akira, Naoko, Jiro, and the rest of Emi's prized battalion of officers were standing motionless in a line with their backs to the center.

"Very impressive Officer Song," Lin complimented him, "In record time too."

"Thanks Chief," Song said, looking tired and out of breath, "But I bet you could have done it faster."

"I don't know about that," Lin said, "I'm not as quick as I used to be."

"Oh, hush," Emi scowled, placing her finger over Lin's lips to make her stop talking, "You can easily keep up with me. You need to be very quick if you can keep up with me and my gabby mouth."

Lin rolled her eyes before she noticed the large group of Southern Tribe protesters heading down the street in their direction.

"We better get into position," Lin said, nodding at Song, who ran off to his own position. Emi stayed next to Lin which she was happy about. Now that she was second in command she could stay by Lin during these kind of things. Emi sighed in disappointment when she saw Korra come out leading the group of Southerners. The Avatar hadn't listened to her, but that was nothing new. Emi shouldn't have been surprised. Rebelling was in a teenager's personality. Emi cringed internally when she heard all the Northerners booing at the Southerners and the Avatar. Korra could sometimes be stubborn and uncooperative, but she didn't deserve this shouting mob.

"Get out of this city!"

"You're a danger to all!"

"Get a real dog!"

The last shout made Emi ponder how intelligent these protesters were. That wasn't an insult. That was just stupidity, and someone shouting just to shout. Emi was beginning to think that this was actually just going to be a peaceful protest and nothing more.

 _Boom!_

Emi and Lin turned around in shock when explosions started to go off within the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center. Fire and smoke started to rise from the broken windows and torn out holes of the building.

"Call the Fire Department!" Emi cried to her officers as Lin metalbent the metal off of her foot. She hit the ground hard with her foot, and closed her eyes. Lin saw the interior of the building, and gave a sigh of relief when she saw no one inside.

"It's all clear," Lin cried out to Emi as she directed the waterbendering officers into formation. Emi nodded her head before giving the waterbenders the signal to start spraying water on the building. All Emi and Lin could do was sit back and watch as fire trucks came, bringing more water and helping to diminish the fire. This was not good.

The next day Lin came barreling out of her office in a furious wurlwind. Other officers got out of her way as she stormed over to Emi desk where she looked at her in concern.

"I got a call from Raiko," Lin explained, and that was all the explanation Emi needed to know why Lin was so mad, "He says he's coming over to the station right now to have a meeting with me. He's mad that we haven't had any good leads in the bombing case yet. Like you can get a good lead after one day? Who does he think he is?"

"He thinks he's the man of all men," Emi answered her rhetorical question on purpose, "But he's the idiot of all idiots. Just ignore him and do it your own way, and you'll get the job done. You've always gotten the job done your way."

"He just doesn't trust me enough to let me do it my way," Lin have a frustrated snarl, "It's like he has me on a leash or something."

"Well, he'll soon learn that you bite," Emi chuckled, "And you bite hard and don't let go."

"I wish I could bite him without getting fired," Lin grumbled, "I'd make him go crying back to his mother."

"Please don't bite him," Emi said, pretending to gag, "You don't know where he's been. You could catch some crazy bad disease like Selfishness Syndrome or Cowardly Chicken Pox."

Lin showed a smile for the first time that day, and Emi grinned happily. She loved it when she was able to make Lin smile. It made her smile.

The doors to the room banged open, and everyone looked up. President Raiko was standing in the threshold with his two huge bodyguards standing close next to him. Way to ruin the moment.

"Beifong, office, now!" Raiko commanded before entering Lin's office without so much as a look. Emi growled deep in her throat.

"I really hate that guy," She said through her gritted teeth.

"And now I have to deal with him," Lin said with annoyance before walking away and entering her office. The whole room was quiet, so Emi was able to listen to Raiko's demanding voice through the wall.

"How did this Cultural Center attack happen right under your nose?" Raiko bellowed making Emi think about possible assassination plans, "And why haven't you arrested the Northerners responsible?"

"We're working on it, sir," Emi heard Lin say, and Emi was surprised about how calm she sounded.

"Well work harder," Raiko continued to yell, "If you don't give me results soon, I'm going to find someone who can."

The nerve of that guy! Emi was furious! She knew that Raiko had been threatening Lin, but hearing it herself made everything worse. How dare he speak to her like that! If she got her hands on him…"

Emi looked up when the door to the room opened again, but this time it was someone better than Raiko that entered the room. Mako stepped through, and walked over to Lu and Gang's desk.

"I've got a break in the bombing case!" He announced which made Emi extremely happy. More information, less yelling, "I IDed the guy I saw at the scene!"

"That's great Mako," Gang said, his big afro bouncing with his movements.

"Yeah, you better run that into Beifong right now," Lu agreed, and Emi straightened up in fear. Oh, if Mako cut into Lin's meeting, he would either be yelled at or fired. Neither option was good, so Emi tried to get his attention from across the room. It didn't work.

"You think?" Mako asked hopefully, completely falling for Lu and Gang's prank.

"Sure, you're going to be a hero," Gang said with a sly smile. Oh no. Not good.

Mako took a look at his picture, not looking over his shoulder as Emi who was still trying to get his attention, before heading to Lin's office door. He knocked on it quickly before entering. Emi face-palmed her forehead. One of the main rules in the department was that you needed to wait for the host's permission before entering their office. Mako was in for a treat.

"What makes a rookie B-cop think he can interrupt my meeting with the President!" Emi heard Lin shriek from inside her office.

"I… I… I'm sorry," Emi heard Mako stutter as she glared at Lu and Gang who were laughing like they had done something clever, "I just… um… found something out about the bombing."

"Well give it to Lu and Gang you moron!" Lin snapped from inside, "Now get out!"

 _Poor Mako_ , Emi thought to herself as Mako went back to Lu and Gang's table.

"Sorry was she busy?" Gang asked, sounding apologetic towards Mako, but he had obviously gotten a good laugh from the whole ordeal.

"This is the guy I saw sneaking out of the building right before the explosion," Mako explained, placing a picture on Lu and Gang's table, "He's a member of the Agni Kai's. Someone must have hired him to make it look like Northerners hit the Cultural Center."

Lu looked at the picture for a fraction of a second before putting it in a drawer in his desk. Emi narrowed her eyes at the act. What kind of detectives were they? Did she have to do everything herself?

Emi got up from her desk, and walked over to Lu and Gang's table. The two detectives' eyes widened in fear as she came over.

"Picture, now," she commanded, holding out her hand.

Lu immediately lunged for the drawer, and gave Emi the picture. Emi looked at it, and nodded her head.

"Yep, this is a member of the Agni Kai," Emi confirmed, remembering the guy from past battles, "He hits a mean under-chin fire punch. Was there anything else that you found out Mako?"

"I was able to get the remote that they used to detonate the bombs from them as they were driving away, and I gave it to them," Mako said, pointing to Lu and Gang.

"And did you do any work with the remote, or any work at all," Emi asked, glaring at the two.

"Uh… yes! Of course, we did," Gang said with one of his awful-but-he-thinks-it's-charming smiles.

"You realize I'm a Truth-seer, right?" Emi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lu and Gang exchanged nervous glances before giving her a sheepish smile.

"Get me that remote!" Emi roared, giving Lu and Gang quite a fright before they ran out of the room.

"That will finally make them exercise," Emi said as she looked at the picture.

Mako laughed before saying: "Thanks for the help."

"Well, if you keep up the good work, you'll get more of it," Emi said as a panting Lu and Gang came back and gave her the remote. It was a new model, and it looked like it was newly built. So they were looking for a manufacturer.

Mako gave Emi a salute before going back to his desk, and Emi nodded at him before taking the evidence back to her own desk to examine. Emi looked at the remote, and noticed something on the inside of the activating switch. Emi looked, and noticed a light grey dust-like substance stuck inside the remote. So the person who used the remote was also around this substance.

Emi was disturbed yet again when Raiko slammed Lin's office door open then closed. Emi kept her eyes narrowed on Raiko as he walked over to Mako's desk. Mako stood up respectfully before Raiko started talking.

"I've heard good things about you," he said and Emi grumbled with annoyance. There goes Raiko trying to get at least one person at the Police Department to like him. "You've made some big Triad busts for a rookie," Raiko continued with his compliments.

"Thank you, sir," Mako said with not emotion like a good officer.

"And you're dating the Avatar, right?" Raiko asked, making Emi raise an eyebrow. That was a quick change of subject.

"Yes sir," Mako answered.

"I'm concerned that she might be getting some bad advice from Varrick," Raiko said, using Mako as a way to get into what Korra might be up to, "You wouldn't happen to know if they were planning anything that would compromise the security of Republic City, now would you officer?"

Emi leaded forward to catch as much of the conversation as possible. She was very confused about what they were talking about, but Raiko obviously knew exactly what he was talking away.

"Let me remind you that you have sworn an oath," Raiko stated after Mako was quiet for a while, "You're a man of the law before anything else."

"Yes sir," Mako said again, not breaking his emotionless state.

"Keep up the good work," Raiko said before he surprisingly started to move towards Emi's desk. Emi was beginning to get suspicious and on edge before Mako spoke up.

"Wait," Mako said as he hung his head and closed his eyes, "There's something you should know."

Raiko turned his head with a sly smile on his face. Emi barred her teeth at his back as he turned around to face Mako again.

"Oh, is that so?" He asked.

"My brother came by my apartment earlier today and said that Varrick was planning to help Korra convince General Iroh to take troops down to the South to fight Unalaq. They didn't want you to know about it."

Emi's eyes widened with this new information. She knew that Unalaq was the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, but she didn't know that Korra was specifically mad at him. She knew that Korra was mad at the Northerners for striking against the South Pole, but maybe she had been telling the truth when she said the war was more complicated that it appeared. They had been standing on a wooden dock through the conversation, so Emi wasn't able to get a read on them with her Truth-seer abilities.

"Are they now?" Raiko asked, scratching underneath his chin before giving an almost kind smile to Mako before placing his hand on the teen's shoulder. "Thank you for your loyalty to Republic City."

"It was my pleasure sir," Mako said, giving Raiko another respectful bow.

Raiko nodded his head before Mako sat back down at his desk. The President then turned to Emi again, and Emi clenched her fingers into the wood of her desk to keep herself from attacking Raiko. Emi relaxed a little when Raiko took his attention off of Emi and started whispering in one of his two bodyguards' ear. Emi was able to catch most of the conversation. Something about getting a car ready to go down to the docks. Raiko seemed to be wanting to deal with the Avatar himself. After the bodyguard he whispered to bowed and walked out of the room, Raiko _again_ turned his attention to Emi.

"Are you the great Captain Emilia that I've been hearing so much about," Raiko asked, casting his eyes downward at Emi like he was some deity and she was just a peasant woman.

"That would be me," Emi said, and she was happy to see that Raiko looked taken aback about her lack of respect towards him. _You aren't making me stand up, bow, or say 'sir'_ , Emi thought to herself.

"Well, I've heard how marvelous a leader you are, and how all of your officers that you command would rather lay down their life than see you get hurt," Raiko said with a raised eyebrow.

"Where exactly did you hear that from?" Emi asked, tapping her fingers on her desk, "Because I assure you it was not my officers. No one in this building would every say something so sappy unless it was on a dare."

"I hear rumors," Raiko said, straightening his fancy jacket.

"So you rely on gossip instead of hard facts?" Emi asked as she dramatically gasped, "Are you telling me that the President of the United Republic gets all of his information from rumors? Aren't you the one who is supposed to resolve conflict and defend our city with diplomatic solutions? How would you be telling the truth to other Nation leaders if you were getting all your facts from rumors?"

"I don't get all my information from rumors," Raiko said, looking down his nose at the metalbender, "I just can't plug my ears to the gossip that flies around the city."

Emi stared at the President, trying to read him, and Raiko stared right back.

"What do you want from me _Mr. President_?" Emi asked mockingly.

"I just wanted you to have a heads up about a possible promotion if I'm pushed to my limits," Raiko said as he straightened out his suit again.

"What do you mean?" Emi asked as all her playfulness washed away. He better not be saying what she thought he was saying. She was in second-in-command.

"Chief Beifong isn't doing a very good job right now, and her age might be getting to her," Raiko said with no emotion like he didn't know he was insulting Lin. "I'm thinking about possibly putting you as the new candidate for Chief. What do you think?"

The whole room fell silent. Emi knew that that everyone there was fearful about her reaction to what the President was saying about her girlfriend, and they were right to be fearful.

Emi slowly stood up from her chair. She snarled and let her teeth show as she banged her palms on her desk. She leaned over her desk towards Raiko, and put her face very close to his. Raiko took a step back in alarm, clearly not expecting this kind of a reaction.

"How dare you call Lin old!" Emi shrieked at the top of her lungs, "How dare you say she's not doing her job right! She's the best Chief of Police for miles around, and you're saying she's not doing her job! She's got a perfect track record, graduated from the Academy with honors, and she's the best fighter around! Those are facts! Maybe if you listened to facts more than gossip, you would know that!"

Raiko, who was now hiding behind his second bodyguard, opened his mouth to reply, but Emi cut him off.

"I will never want to be Chief of Police as long as Lin wears her badge! I will give her anything she wants, and that will certainly not change now for the likes of you!"

"I didn't realize you were friends," Raiko said, wiping off his coat after her realized he was acting extremely cowardly against a yelling woman.

"You obviously haven't been in this city for too long," Emi aggressively whispered as she got right in Raiko's face, "Because almost the entire city knows this. Here's another fact, I'm Lin's girlfriend."

Raiko's eyes widened as he took a step back again.

"I see I have made a mistake," Raiko said as he gestured for his bodyguard to leave first with him bringing up the rear.

"Well that's nothing new," Emi growled as the doors to the room closed behind Raiko. Emi sat back down at her desk with a annoyed sigh. She then looked up, and saw everyone's eyes on her looking very shocked that she had yelled at the President and didn't get fired.

"What are you liver-lips looking at?" Emi snarled, "Get back to work!"

They all immediately did as they were told, and Emi rested her tired head in her hands. Unknown to her, Lin gave a loving smile as she looked at Emi through the the spyhole in her door. She had watched the entire event, and couldn't be more touched by her girlfriend's display of affection.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **As I had written in the summary for this book, there is unfortunately going to be some tension between our favorite couple this chapter when it comes to the line in between work and their relationship. I don't usually like to write anything other than fluffy, but I just wanted to show how strong these two police officers are and that they can bulldoze through anything! Enjoy!**

After an hour or so, Emi had finally completely calmed down. She was helping Akira with one of his morning arrest reports when someone almost literally kicked the doors down to the room. Emi stood up ready to yell at the person who dared to barge into a private police work area, but decided instead to watch as an angry Avatar stormed towards Mako.

"You ratted me out to the President," Korra yelled, coming to a halt in front of Mako's desk.

"Korra, let me explain," Mako said, trying to calm the Avatar down in a peaceful manner. Korra had other ideas.

"Explain why my boyfriend stabbed me the back?" Korra outrageously asked.

"Look, the President of the Republic asked me a direct question," Mako defended himself, "What was I supposed to do?"

"You betrayed me and my family," Korra yelled before airbending Mako's desk into the air and across the room before it came to a halt right outside of Lin's office door.

"Woah, Korra, easy," Emi said, looking at the now slightly broken desk, "That's police property."

"Listen to her Korra," Mako said before Korra completely ignored him and walked over to Emi. Emi was shorter than Lin, but taller than Korra. Korra looked up into the Second-in-commands eyes and said:

"Hate to break it to you Emi, but I'm the Avatar. I don't have to listen to you and you're precious police regulations."

"Actually you do," Emi said, crossing her arms over her chest, "You're technically a Republic City citizen, and therefore under its rules. One of these rules is don't throw police equipment especially if it's a possible threat to people in the room."

"Yeah, just like Unalaq is a threat to my home and my family," Korra retorted, "Can your rules help me there?"

"Enough!" Mako shouted, getting the Avatar's attention, "Look we've all got jobs to do here, and I can't constantly be worrying about you making another huge mistake!"

"Well, I have a job to do too," Korra shouted back, "But it always seems like you're standing in the way of me getting it done!"

"Well I guess if we're both putting our jobs first, maybe there's no room for our relationship!"

Emi decided to stay quiet for this one. This, for once, wasn't her battle to fight.

"So, what?" Korra asked and for the first time sounding sad, "Are you breaking up with me?"

"Yeah," Mako said, refusing to make eye contact with her, "I guess I am."

Emi saw tears starting to appear in Korra's eyes as she stormed out of the room, leaving a mess behind her. Of course, this was the time that Lin happened to open the door to her office.

"What the flameo happened here?" Lin asked, looking at the overturned desk and the floor littered with papers that used to be on Mako's desktop.

"I broke up with the Avatar," Mako answered her, looking depressed.

"You got off easy," Lin said as a smirk spread across her face, "You should have seen Air Temple Island after Tenzin broke up with me."

"I would have payed money to see that," Emi said as she skipped over to Lin and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Lin smiled at her before gesturing with her hand to the door of the room.

"Come with me," she said as she walked towards the door. As she passed Mako's overturned desk, Lin ordered Mako to put it back, and clean up the mess. Lin stated that "it is technically your fault it happened". Lin and Emi walked through the hallways of the station, but Emi had no idea where they were going. Lin decided not to tell Emi, and instead started talking.

"I saw and heard that little conversation you had with President Raiko," Lin said, making Emi stop and turn to her in shock.

"Oh… um… yeah… about that…" Emi said, rubbing her hands together nervously.

"Thank you for defending me," Lin said which caught Emi off guard.

"You're fine with me almost getting fired?" Emi asked in surprise.

"Not particularly about that, but I'm very touched that you reacted that way when he mentioned replacing me," Lin said as she smiled down at the floor, which Emi thought was pretty cute, "Anyone else in your position would have jumped for joy at the thought of replacing me, but you yelled at him instead."

"Yeah! Did you see the way he hid behind his bodyguard?" Emi laughed, happy she wasn't in trouble, "His face was priceless!"

"You are very scary when you are angry," Lin agreed, making Emi glare at her. Lin laughed, "Oh come on, that was a compliment. You could make all the Triads turn themselves in just so that they wouldn't receive your wrath. It's honestly pretty sexy."

"Oh really?" Emi asked with a sly smile. Lin gasped as Emi grabbed her shoulders, and lightly pushing her against the wall. They were in one of the hallways that never got used, and Emi took advantage of it. She began to kiss and suck at the skin on Lin's neck that wasn't covered by her tall collar of her uniform. Lin moaned, but tried to push Emi off.

"Not here," Lin begged as Emi's hands started to wander her body, and Lin could feel it through the metal, "We can't get in trouble. Raiko's already out to get you. Don't give him a bigger reason to fire you. Ah!"

Emi bit down on Lin's bottom lip as she stuck her tongue in Lin's mouth. Lin couldn't help but relax into her kiss as Emi's hands traveled even lower.

"I will listen to you because I love you," Emi said, retracting her hands and lips, "But this will be continued."

Lin couldn't help the disappointed moan that escaped her lips as she pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning on. It was going to be a long day now thanks to that.

Lin continued on her journey to where she wanted to go, and Emi followed. Emi still had no idea where they were going, but she did know that she was going to have fun with Lin tonight.

Lin started down the staircase that lead into the basement. Emi, at first, thought that they were going to the interrogation rooms, but Lin took a hard right. Emi had only been down here once when she was working a murder case. They were going to the morgue.

Lin opened the tightly sealed doors, and they both walked in. The first thing Emi saw upon entry was a large metal table, and there was a dead body on it. It was an old man with white hair and beard, and his skin was littered in old scars and rough skin from years of labor. But the most peculiar thing about the man was that there was a large, shiny black mark that went across his midsection.

Emi stared in shock and curiosity. This mark couldn't have been made by a human. It was so alien, and magical. It seemed unearthly.

"This man's name is Jungo," Lin said, also staring at the body, "His body washed up on shore of one of the South Pole's northernmost islands a couple of days ago, and we have identified him as the captain of one of the ships that got attacked by spirits in their waters thanks to a young boy who worked on the ship and was found among the wreckage."

"So this mark was made by a dark spirits?" Emi asked, continuing to stare at the weird wound.

"Yes," Lin confirmed, "The young boy said that Jungo here was grabbed by one of the spirits many tentacles before being dragged underwater. His cause of death was drowning, but this mark caused his dead body a lot of damage. All his inner organs have been disintegrated into dust on the inside."

"Wow, spirits can do that?" Emi asked in amazement, "But wait, if he was found on Southern soil, why is he here in Republic City?"

"The Southerners don't want anything else to do with the spirit attacks happening in their waters," Lin explained, "And we have better equipment than they do, so they want us to use his body as evidence to help with our case. Do you have any observations? I know Raiko wants this case solved and fast or my job may be on the line."

"That Raiko," Emi growled, "If you haven't noticed, I don't like him."

"I've definitely noticed," Lin rolled her eyes, "What do you see?"

Emi looked at the body carefully. She noticed frost on the skin that probably came from the freezer they had preserved the body in, she noticed his sunken stomach proving that Lin's statement was right, and something else.

Emi walked over to a counter, and picked up a pair of disposable gloves. She put them on, and then went to examine the body again. She carefully wiped her finger along the inside of dead man's hand, and then held her finger up to the light shining from the ceiling lights.

"What is it?" Lin asked.

"Some sort of powder," Emi answered, "What was Jungo here carrying on that ship?"

"We don't know, the boy, who was the only other person who survived the attack, didn't know," Lin said, looking at Emi's hand that Emi was presenting to her, "All we do know is that the boat was owned by Varrick, but even he didn't know what was on the boat which is weird. He says he has a lot of boats heading in that general direction, and he can't remember which ones are which."

"That guy's all kinds of weird," Emi said, "Where was the ship going?"

"I know it left approximately five hours before it got attacked, and it's expected that it was going to the South."

Emi thought about it, and then remembered the remote. It had powder similar to this stuff stuck inside of it.

"Here," Emi said, carefully taking off her glove with the powder still on it and giving it to Lin, "Do you mind testing this and finding out what it is? I think I've got a lead."

"What lead do you have?" Lin asked as she put the glove in an evidence bag.

"I think I might be able to tie up a couple lose ends," Emi said as she started to run out of the room, "I can find out what that man was carrying on his ship and see if I can find out what and for who!"

Lin just chuckled to herself, and rolled her eyes as her girlfriend ran away enthusiastically. Emi had almost too much energy for her to keep up with.

Emi had run back to get the remote, so the grey powder that she had found on the remote could also be tested. They were a perfect match, and better yet, the dust-like substance was black powder (gun powder).

"That man was carrying explosive black powder to the South without a license and without anyone knowing what he was carrying," Lin growled, "This is going to make Raiko even more irritated."

"Maybe not," Emi assured her as they left the testing room, "If that man was carrying black powder to the South, the same stuff found on the remote detonator that Mako said the real culprits used to cause the explosion at the Cultural Center, then maybe the person responsible has just made it look like it was Northern Water Tribe but it's really the Southerners."

"Why would the Southerners bomb their own Cultural Center," Lin asked doubtfully.

"I don't think it was the entire Southerner population of this city was in on this. I think it was just one person with either a lot of rage or a lot of money. That's how they would be able to buy all that black powder, and be crazy enough to bomb the Center."

"Or they're just dumb which is always a possibility," Lin pointed out.

"Yes that is also true," Emi laughed as Song came running up to them.

"Oh Chief, I've been looking everywhere for you," he said as he tried to catch his breath.

"What is it Officer Song," Lin asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Another Varrick industries ship was attacked last night in our waters," Song heaved, "It was carrying Future Industries equipment to the people of the South. The captain of the ship and his crew members were rescued by a fishing boat after they had drifted in a raft for a couple hours. They are being checked by paramedics before it is decided if they need any hospital care. The Captain of the ship says he's fine, and is willing to let you interview him tomorrow."

"Oh perfect," Lin said sarcastically, "Just what I need. Tell him I will meet him here tomorrow at 8am sharp. We need to crack this case."

"Alright Chief," Song said before giving the Chief a salute and Emi a smile as he ran back the way he came.

"I still think it is Northern Water Tribe attacking those ships," Lin said as she and Emi walked back to Lin's office, "Who else would attack a Southern Water Tribe boat but Northerners."

"Maybe the person responsible is just that clever. Attacking their own ships, so they could blame Northerners but in reality they are just stealing their own boat."

Her own statement made Emi stop. _Steal their own boat_. It was Varrick Industries' ships that kept getting attacked on their way to the South. The attackers knew when to attack and where to attack to make sure they were victorious against the crew of the ships. It was almost too easy.

"What is it?" Lin asked worriedly, turning to place her hands on Emi's shoulders.

"I think I've got a suspect, but it would be a bad idea to question him," Emi answered as she took Lin's hands in her own.

"Why is that?" Lin asked, relieved that Emi's stop in the hallway was just because she was thinking.

"He's a multi-millionaire business man that is a huge benefactor of Republic City, and is absolutely nuts."

"Varrick?" Lin asked in surprise, "Why do you suspect him?"

"He has the money and the idiocy for it," Emi answered, "But I can't pinpoint a motive besides that he is a Southerner."

"And why would he attack a ship, _his_ ship, bring supplies to the South?" Lin asked, "If it is him, we need to find a different motive. This also means we can't bring him in, or else he will get scared and then won't be as easy to track. We'll just need to observe."

"That's no fun, but reasonable," Emi sighed.

After they went back to their office/desk and got their stuff, the couple went back to their condo. They bent of their armor as soon as they crossed the threshold, and flopped down on their bed. Emi gave an exhausted sigh.

"Police work hurts my brain," she said, turning her head to look at Lin.

"It'll get easier with experience," Lin assured her, enjoying the relief the bed gave her back. Emi continued to watch Lin as Lin closed her eyes. Emi was immediately reminded of her promise earlier. She swung herself over, so that she was straddling Lin's hips. Lin opened her eyes in surprise before giving Emi a raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" She asked as Emi dipped her head down.

"Keeping my promise from earlier," Emi said, brushing her lips against Lin's earlobe making the Chief gasp. She definitely wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

The next morning it was a struggle for them to get out of bed. Lin, for once, hadn't wanted to go to work. Even so she had made herself get up, but only for Emi to pin her back down again. Let's just say she was now very relaxed.

"I have that meeting with the Captain of that ship right now," Lin told her girlfriend was they walked down the stairs to the interrogation rooms, "You're welcome to join me."

"Like you had a choice," Emi smirked, kissing the slightly purple mark that could barely be seen over the collar of Lin's uniform. Lin blushed, and moved her soft, silver hair so that it covered up the mark better.

"Stop it, you're going to get us in trouble," She whispered to Emi, but that didn't make the smirk of pride leave Emi's face as she looked at the mark.

They eventually made it to the interrogation rooms, and Song was waiting outside one of them. He saluted the Chief as she walked up to him.

"The Captain is already in there," Song said, pointing to the room behind him, "But Lu and Gang are not here yet."

Lin grumbled, and Emi annoyingly rolled her eyes. She hated Lu and Gang, and she hated them even more for being late. They were probably slacking off somewhere eating donuts.

"We're here!" Lu said as he and his partner came down the hall… holding donuts in their hands. Emi had to face-palm herself for being so right.

"You should have been briefing him 30 minutes ago," Lin scolded them before looking with disgust at their pastries, "And no food in the interrogation room!"

Lu and Gang whined at this statement as Mako came around the corner, and into the hall.

"Hey rookie," Gang said, handing the kid the half eaten desserts, "Hold these will ya."

Mako also looked with disgust at the donuts, and as Lu and Gang turned Emi gestured with her head to the trash can next to the door. Mako immediately chucked the desserts in said trash can, and opened the door to the spectator room (where you could view the interrogation even if you weren't allowed to be in the direct interrogation room) like he hadn't done anything wrong. Emi smiled before entering the interrogation room just after the Chief.

The Captain was in there, and he had grey, hair, mustache, and goatee, was wearing a blue, water tribe coat, and his Varrick Industries hat was laying on the metal table that he sat at. Lin wasted no time getting straight to the point.

"I know you had a long day yesterday, but walk me through what happened," Lin said, putting her right hand on her hip as she addressed the Captain.

"We were ambushed about 30 clicks outside the harbor," He said, his voice giving away his exhaustion, "We never heard them coming."

"This is the third attack this week," Lin stated to the detectives in the room, "At about the same location."

"Yep," Lu complained, making Emi want to strangle him, "And smack dab in Republic City's jurisdiction which means another problem for us. All this stress is going to turn black beauty grey.

As Gang stroked his mustache, which was the 'black beauty' he was referring to, Emi saw Lin's eyes narrow at the mention of grey hair. Emi took a hold of the hand that wasn't on her hip, and gave it a squeeze to reassure her that she was beautiful just the way she was.

"It's got to be Northern Water Tribe," Lu told Lin who had returned Emi's hand holding before they went back into professional mode, "They're trying to stop supply lines to the South."

"I agree," Lin said to make Lu and Gang shut up, but she was still on to Emi's hunch about Varrick Industries, "Is there anything else about the attack you remember? Anything unusual?"

Lin was addressing the Captain, and Emi was pleased to see he did have something.

"There is one thing," He said, "The bombs exploded in a way I've never seen before. They didn't have fuses. It was like they were being detonated remotely."

Emi scratched her chin in thought. Varrick definitely had the inventor and crafting knowledge to build something so unique and helpful to the cause. Bombs that were detonated remotely would be better than fused bombs because they could set them off anytime they wanted which could make hiding them very easy. Hiding them like in the Cultural Center bombing.

They, the Police Force, had checked the building back to front, and found nothing that resembled bombs that they had seen in the past. They hadn't known what these new bombs like, and hadn't been able to find them. That by itself too some brains.

"Chief!"

Emi turned to see Mako entering the room in a state of excitement or urgency. It was hard to tell. It could probably be both, but Emi had to give a disappointed sigh anyway. Mako was going to make Lin angry especially after he entered her office when she was having that meeting with Raiko.

"I think there is a link between this attack and the attack at the Cultural Center," Mako continued as he walked further into the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lin asked, clearly ticked off by his entrance.

"Solving this case," Mako answered with too much sass to make Lin happy. Mako set down a box on the table, and Emi realized it was the same box that she had had on her desk that was holding the remote that Mako had found during the Cultural Center bombing and the picture of the guy Mako had identified at the crime scene.

"Did any of the people who attacked you have one of these in their hand?" Mako asked the Captain, "I think it is a remote detonator."

The Captain looked closely at the remote before answering.

"It was too dark to see anything," the Captain said apologetically.

"Mako!" Lin growled.

"Chief," Mako said, defending himself, "I don't think that the people that attacked were Northern Water Tribe."

"Of course they were Northern Water Tribe," Lu argued, "They were waterbending."

"That doesn't mean that they were Northern Water Tribe if they were waterbending," Emi mocked the duo, "There are other people around the world that waterbend. They could just be dressing up as Northerners to frame them."

"Exactly!" Mako said as he directed the sea Captain's attention back down to the box. He pushed the picture of the guy he identified out from underneath the detonator instrument, "Was this one of the guys that attacked?"

"No, I don't recognize him," the Captain said with no hesitation.

"Ooo, that's embarrassing," Lu said.

"Nice try rookie," Gang laughed.

"That doesn't mean he's not onto something," Emi interjected, "The person who is planning these attacks is clever, and they would be a fool to use the same people twice for his missions."

This however wasn't enough to sway Lin's mood.

"Mako, leave, now" She ordered with so much bite in her voice that it could bite straight through platinum.

"Great work everybody," Varrick said as he and Asami entered the interrogation room. Emi narrowed her eyes at the male inventor. She was searching for anything on his person or in his expression that would give her anything about his possible bombings. He face just spoke of craziness and confidence. "Another open-and-shut case of the dynamic mustachio duo!"

Emi almost laughed at that.

"Wait," Asami said to an already fuming Lin, "I think Mako might be on to something."

"Chief, I know it's a long shot, but I have an idea of a way that we can catch these guys," Mako pleaded with his boss.

"Yeah, let's all listen to the rookie," Gang mocked.

"He's doing a better job than you," Asami retaliated, obviously as annoyed with the two detective as everyone else in the room.

"Who's hungry?" Varrick asked randomly, but no one had a chance to reply.

"Enough!" Lin roared as she stamped her metal-plated foot on the ground. Her voice was raising even more when she addressed Mako, "I don't want to hear any of your lame-brained rookie ideas! You're a B-cop not a detective! Now hit the street and do your job!"

She thrusted a finger towards the door as Lu and Gang started laughing. Emi turned her glaring face towards them, and they instantly jumped and went quiet. Mako, thankfully, didn't argue, and walked out of the room. Asami and Varrick followed him. Asami turned to give Lin a glare before she left, and Varrick gave a smile in Emi's direction. Emi was surprised at first, but then challenged that smile with a glare. It wasn't the kind of smile that Emi was able to get out of Lin on special occasions. It was a smile that showed overconfidence and slyness, and it put the second in command on edge.

After they finally left, Lin let out a frustrated sigh. She then turned to Lu and Gang.

"Escort this man out of the building," Lin told them before turning her attention directly on the Captain, "If you have anything else to tell us or have any other concerns sir, we would be happy to help."

"Thank you, if I remember anything, I will report it to you," The Captain said before he got up from his chair. After Lu, Gang, and the Captain left the interrogation room, Lin turned to Emi.

"What was that all about?" Lin asked, gesturing to the door that everyone had left from.

"What do you mean 'what was that all about'?" Emi mocked, mimicking Lin's angry voice, "Unlike you, I am looking at every, single option, and not going with just the most likely one. I infiltrated, or I guess you could say I was invited to, Varrick's mover studio earlier this week. Bolin asked me to come by and see all of his cool work so that I could show him different methods of waterbending poses that I'd kept track of over the years. Do you know what I found when I was looking at the pyrotechnics that they use for their fake, mover bombs? The same detonator remote that Mako got from the Cultural Center bombing! I didn't know what the connection was until I saw Mako's remote. _Mako's_ remote!"

Emi was heaving with anger, and Lin stepped back to make sure she was out of range of her fists.

"So," Emi continued without giving Lin a chance to speak, "I'm going to do some actual police work because I. have. a. lead!"

With that said, Emi turned on her heels and stormed out of the room. Lin just hung her head as she watched her go. This was not turning out to be a very good day at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

 **Sorry about the late update! Finals week is drawing near, and I have a lot on my plate. Here is the long awaited part 4. Will Mako and Emi find the true bomber, or is the bomber going to strike first? Keep reading to find out!**

Lin didn't see Emi all day and all night. No matter how much she looked, she couldn't find her. Emi had completely vanished, but Lin knew she wasn't in danger. She was just angry at her, and wanted to stay away from her for a couple days. Lin had to admit to herself that she was getting lonely. When she had been dating Tenzin, they had had their arguments too but the time they spent away from each other afterwards never felt this painful. Lin just had to let Emi come back to her in her own time. Lin knew that confronting her directly would only make things worse.

Emi had been working nonstop on her private case. She had been asking around Varrick's factories, warehouses, and ships, but go no other information besides what she already knew. She decided, after working for almost 18 hours, that she just needed to go back to where she saw the remote the first time. She needed to go back to Varrick's mover studio.

Upon entry, the first thing that Emi saw was surprisingly the one she had been defending. Mako was standing next to Bolin where he sat in his Nuktuk (the character he played in the mover who was a Southern Water Tribe hero fighting Unalaq) costume. After Bolin was called away to rehearse a scene, Emi walked up to him.

"Captain," Mako said with surprise as he saluted her. Emi chuckled before manually putting his hand down away from his forehead.

"There is no need for that," she said, "I just came back to look at some evidence that I found earlier this week, and I think you should see it."

"Okay," Mako said as he followed Emi behind the backdrop that Bolin was rehearsing on. Emi walked up to a man that was fixing some pyrotechnic pods.

"Well hello again, miss," He said with a smile, "Come back to help Nuktuk. The poor thing can't fake waterbending if his life depended on it."

"Actually no," Emi said, smiling back, "I just had some questions about how you did the pyrotechnics. How did you make the explosions go off in sync?"

"Neat, huh? It's a Varrick Industries exclusive," he said before picking up something that was in the box behind him, "Here, check it out."

Emi took a hold of the thing he was giving her, and smiled before handing it over to Mako. Mako's eyes widened when he realized that it was a copy of the remote that he had back at the station.

"The explosions use a remote detonator," the guy said, confirming Mako and Emi's theories.

"Thank you for the help," Emi said as she gave him back the remote.

"Of course," he said, "Any time."

"It was Varrick," Mako said to Emi as they walked away, "He was the one who bombed the Cultural Center."

"He has been my top suspect for a couple days now," Emi said as they exited the studio and out into the fresh air, "He's one of the only people that has the means for such an operation, and I think he wants to start a war."

"Why would he want to start a war?" Mako asked.

"This was the Fire Lords' methods during the 100 year war," Emi explained, "While you create the war, you always get the money back. They could engineer things for their own cause, and for the other causes like the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water tribe. They would be selling their inventions so that they could get money to make more weapons but also know exactly what the enemy was going to use and how to stop them. The Fire Lords' were just plain insane, but Varrick is smart. He isn't trying to start a war for power, he's trying to start a war for money. He could sell his inventions ten times faster if he had two sides of the war paying for them. Stealing his own ships is a way of making the Southerners angry, and the movers he is making with Bolin are a way of making the Northerners angry."

"Wow, you have done your research," Mako said, impressed.

"It's my job," Emi said, "And I will have you replace Lu and Gang one day if you help me solve this case."

"I'm all in," Mako said with a confident smile, "But I need to tell Asami what we've uncovered. Her last available amount of Future Industries inventions were stolen last night, and she's having a hard time keeping her company going."

"Oh how awful," Emi said, "We better get to her office as soon as possible."

They traveled to Future Industries Headquarters, and Mako immediately opened the door to her office.

"Asami," He cried, "I think I know who set us up."

As he and Emi walked further into the room, Emi noticed that they weren't alone in the room. Varrick turned his swivel chair around, so he was now facing the police officers and not Asami. He had that same sly smile on his face that he had at the station the day before. Emi clenched her teeth at him in a snarl.

"Hello Mako, Emilia," the inventor said, his smile unwavering.

"What are you doing here?" Emi asked with bite in her voice.

"He just saved my company," Asami said as she stood up from her chair behind her desk with a cheerful smile on her face, "Varrick bought a controlling interest in Future Industries, isn't that great?"

"Yep," Varrick said, his normal, goofy smile coming back to his face, "I always like to think that I'm always there to stand up for the little guy. Especially if that little guy can help this guy become a bigger guy."

"So what were you saying Mako?" Asami asked, "You two think you know who hired the Triple Threats?"

"Yeah, and I'm real close to proving it," Mako answered as he glared at Varrick who had that sly smile back on his face, "We'll fill you in later."

With that he and Emi walked out of her office, and closed the door behind her.

"He knows we're on to him," Emi told him as they made their way out of the huge Headquarters, "We'll have to be stealthier than that."

"I'll do anything to put that liar behind bars," Mako said with a growl.

It had been a couple of hours since Emi and Mako had parted ways to pursue their own evidence for Varrick's crimes. Emi decided to meet up with his business partners, who all were leading manufacturer of instruments used for protection and fighting no less, but Emi couldn't get anything other than that. She was now just walking down one of the streets of Republic City, near the docks, thinking. She was beginning to wonder if Lin was right, and that it was Northerners, but she immediately slapped herself afterwards. It couldn't be Northerners. There wasn't even technically a war at all yet, and there wasn't that much violence happening in the South. There just were Northerners saying that they were better than the Southerners, and that made the South irritated. Varrick was behind it, but she needed the proof.

"You're right, human."

Emi spun around in alarm. She hadn't felt anyone walking on the concrete sidewalk behind her, but she knew she had heard a voice. There was no one there, and Emi now thought she was going crazy. She cautiously turned around, but gave out a yelp of surprise after almost running into a beak. Emi fell backwards, and looked up with wide eyes at the thing in front of her.

It was a levitating Dragon-eel spirit. It was a tiny thing. Emi guessed it wouldn't be able to wrap around her waist twice. It had bright gold feathers, no arms or legs, a trail of long, violet fur that went down its back from the crest on its head to the tip of its tail, long violet feathers serving as eyebrows that extended from its head, a tan colored beak, and eyes with violet iris and perfectly white sclera. The spirit looked down at her with a curious tilt of its head, and opened its beak to speak.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" it asked with a squeaky, cute, juvenile voice, "I've been told I'm very silent."

"Just a little bit," Emi said as she got to her feet. There was no one else around to pinch her to see if she was dreaming. She had never seen a spirit before, or had a conversation with one either. "So you said I was right?"

"Oh yes," the spirit said, nodding its head, "You are right about that Varrick character. After I heard you and that firebender talking about him being a criminal, I decided to do some spying. I overheard him talking about his plans for the ship he's going to send to the South, and how he was going to attack them."

"How can I trust your input?" Emi asked the spirit, "From what I just heard you like to spy on more than just criminals."

"I'm sorry," The spirit said again, "We spirits like justice, and want it to come to the right people. I was only making sure the police were actually going to arrest the one responsible. I was unable to stop the dark spirits in the waters of the South, so I came to Republic City to see if I could be a help here. It seems I can."

"Why help humans when you're a spirit?" Emi asked, "I thought spirits hated humans."

"Not all spirits hate humans, the older spirits like to stick with tradition and stay away from humans, but us young ones are curious about the human race. You are the first human whose attention I was able to catch."

"How is that? I would think a lot of humans who jump in surprise when they see you. Uh… no offense."

"No offense taken. We spirits look much different than humans, and we can do different things. While you can bend the earth, I can turn invisible to anyone that isn't spiritual enough to see me. I can also take control of a person's body for a short amount of time, but I have never tried it before. I can also go through walls, and summon other spirits."

"Lucky you," Emi said with a roll of her eyes, "So are you like invisible to everyone else right now?"

"Yes, you are the only one I was able to talk to while in my invisible state. The last time I was not invisible humans threw rocks at me, so I like to stay hidden."

"But I'm not spiritual at all. How am I able to see and hear you?"

"You are more spiritual than you think. Your chakras were somewhat cleared when you fell in love and were able to reach that love with that other earthbender."

"So reading minds is another one of your powers I'm guessing?" Emi asked with a frown.

"I can read emotions. Your love for this woman is strong and true, but it has been injured slightly."

"She just doesn't listen to me when she's in one of her moods. She always believes she is right, and makes reckless decisions."

"But you still love her, even through her flaws. No one is perfect."

"I guess not, but that is one flaw that she can fix."

"But how can she fix it if you don't tell her that it is a flaw she should work at?"

"She can't. I'm just being stupid. Running away from my problems instead of facing them."

"Then go face them. It will all be better when you get it out of your system.'

"I think I will," Emi said, her confidence rising again, "Thanks for the talk, I needed it. What do I call you?"

"Anju," she said which confirmed to Emi that it was a girl, "What is yours?"

"Emilia, but most just call me Emi," Emi said, "Why are you in Republic City?"

"I was looking for a purpose. I want to help humans, so when I saw the Civil War I wanted to do something about it."

"Well you came to the right person. I'm the second in command for the Police Force of Republic City, and the case that you just blew a hole wide open for is a case that could greatly impact the Civil War. You want to tag along and help?"

"Nothing will make me happier," Anju said in her squeaky voice as Emi started running in the direction of the Police Station. Anju flew close behind her.

"Hey Song!"

Emi ran up to the Police Officer who was about the ascend the stairs from the forum of the Police Station that Emi had just entered. Anju levitated near her, and Emi noticed that no one turned their heads in amazement or fear. It did seem that she was invisible to everyone but her.

"It's nice to see you again Captain," Song said, turning to her, "You've got to see Lin. She has been yelling at everyone lately after you went along with your private case. We're all dying here!"

"Sorry about that Song," Emi said with a sheepish grin, "We got into a small fight, and I need to apologize. Do you know where she is?"

"I do. She went with Lu and Gang to Mako's apartment after they questioned some Triple Threats who said that he helped them keep Asami Sato busy while someone stole all her company's stuff."

"That's a total lie! Mako was with me a couple of hours ago, and we were searching for evidence. He was trying to solve the case, not become apart of it!"

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. They are probably already there."

"You're right, there is nothing you can do," Emi said as she narrowed her eyes in determination before she started to walk back towards the Station's front doors, "But there is something that I can do."

"It was Varrick, it was all Varrick," Mako said as Lu pushed him into the back of their Police car.

"Stop your whining," Gang ordered, "You can whine all you want in prison."

Gang shut the door in Mako's face before he could retort. Emi, as she saw it all happen, was tempted to just rip the doors to the car of their hinges and smash them into Lu and Gang's faces.

"Don't attack them," Anju said, "It will only make the situation worse for Mako, you, and your girlfriend who would have to listen to that President that your mind says you hate."

"Raiko is the worst," Emi told Anju, "And Lin can sometimes be a little harsh, so when you meet her please try not to be offended."

"If you trust her, I trust her," Anju said with a nod of her beaked head as Emi made her way over to the two detectives and Chief of Police.

"Emi," Lin said as a smile grew on her face, "Are you alright? I haven't seen you for a couple of days now."

"I'm fine, just needed some time to think and obtain some evidence," Emi said, staying a cautious arm's length away from her girlfriend, "Can we talk?"

"Of course," Lin said before turning to Lu and Gang who were already in the car.

"You two take Mako in for booking, and put him in one of our secured cells. We're walking back."

"Sure thing Chief," Lu said as he put his foot on the gas and drove away.

"I'm sorry," Lin apologized as they started walking back the way Emi came, but for Anju it was more like floating, "I just said I agreed with Lu's theory about the Northerners being responsible to make him shut up. I believe you are onto something, but with this new evidence about Mako possibly being involved with the robbing of Future Industries makes me turn my suspicions away from Varrick."

"It is Varrick," Emi said, not making eye contact with Lin even though Lin wasn't taking her eyes off of her, "I have proof from a witness."

"You do?" Lin asked with a raised eyebrow, "What witness was that?"

Emi looked up at Anju, who gave her a nod, before Emi turned to Lin for the first time.

"My spirit friend," Emi said with no humor or joking tone in her voice.

"Your what?" Lin asked in disbelief, "Seriously Emi, this is no time for making jokes."

"She's not joking," Anju said as she materialized right in front of Lin's face with a glow of light. The Chief of Police gasped in surprise before falling down much like Emi had when she had first met Anju.

"What in spirit's name!" Lin cried, looking with round eyes at the dragon-eel spirit before her.

"Lin this is Anju," Emi said, gesturing to Anju, who bowed her head slightly, "And Anju this is Lin, she's my girlfriend that I was talking to you about."

"You are the Chief of Police, yes," Anju asked in her young voice.

"I am," Lin answered cautiously as she took Emi's presented hand to help her off the sidewalk.

"That young firebender is innocent," Anju continued to tell the stunned metalbender, "I overheard Varrick talking about his next batch of stolen ships. He _is_ the one taking them, and he is the one stealing from Future Industries."

Lin's fear morphed into suspicion as she looked at the spirit. Before she could say anything, Anju spoke.

"You may not trust me, but I can assure you I am trustworthy. I only want to help you humans stop with Civil War, and bring peace to both worlds. My world has been thrown into chaos, and your world is following its lead. I have been unable to stop Unalaq and Vaatu's plans no matter how hard I try, but I will help you stop this conflict in your world."

Lin's suspicion slowly died down, but she still narrowed her eyes at the spirit.

"Even if what you say is true, you still need hard evidence. That is the way the court of justice works in this world."

"I am well aware of how justice works here, and I'm willing to follow your rules. We will just need to catch him in the act… ack!"

Anju started shaking her head furiously back in forth while letting out cries that sounded like a wounded bird. Emi took the spirit in her hands.

"What is wrong Anju?" She asked as she worried about the health of her spirit friend.

"The Avatar has opened the Northern Portal," Anju said, giving her head one finally shake before she relaxed, "Unalaq has taken a young airbender named Jinora to the Fog of Lost Souls."

"That's one of Tenzin's kids," Lin gasped.

"What's the Fog of Lost Souls?" Emi asked.

"It is a valley in the Spirit World where spirits imprison humans who have wronged them," Anju responded, slowly gaining her levitating height.

"Aang told me about it when he was still alive," Lin said, "The fog is a spirit that infects the minds of its inhabitants, and locks them in their darkest memories which slowly drives them insane."

"Oh gosh, that sounds awful," Emi said, lowering her gaze, "And Jinora is trapped in there."

"I'll try to call Tenzin even if he already knows," Lin said as they continued to walk to the Station, "But are we good now?"

"I don't know," Emi said, "Do you believe Anju?"

"I'll keep my eyes peeled," Lin promised, "The Nuktuk Hero of the South thing is tonight, and the President is going to be attending, so he asked me if I could provide extra security. Varrick is going to be there too, so we can make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. But you'll never believe where it is being held. It's being held at the Probending Arena."

"Ugh, the last time we were there you almost drowned," Emi grumbled, "But I'm happy that you're giving it some thought. I'm I allowed to come?"

Lin smiled as they started to walk up the stairs to the Station.

"Of course you are."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

 **Here's an extra long update for all of my loving, trusting readers, and it is the second to last update of this book. Book 2 is hella short, but Book 3 is hella long. I'm still not done with it, and I'm over 200 pages! It is probably close to the longest story I've ever written, but it won't come for a while unfortunately. I like to finish my stories completely so I can go back and change thing if I need to. It takes a while for me to post each chapter separately because I get people to look over them for me, but there are still always mistakes *groans*. But enough about me... Chapter 5!**

"So… can no one else see her?"

Lin was looking at Anju with a raised eyebrow as they stood near the entrance of the Probending Arena. There was a huge crowd waiting for Bolin, Ginger (the actress of Nuktuk's girlfriend), President Raiko, and his wife. Emi's best group of officers were there in rows along the red carpet, and were making sure that no one from the crowd would get out of hand and try to tackle any famous people. Emi chuckled.

"Yeah, she is only letting us see her right now since we're the only ones who wouldn't freak out with her presences. No offense."

"None taken, again," Anju said as she looked around at the crowd, the night sky, and the nicely lit Probending Arena, "So this is called a mover premier? What is a mover?"

"It is something that Varrick created," Emi explained, "You record someone acting on a stage of some kind through something called a camera, and then you can project it onto a screen so that you can watch it later. It's basically a book, but you watch it."

"Interesting, humans create the most intriguing things," Anju commented as she swiveled her head around looking at everything.

"Ugh, those idiots," Lin growled.

"What's up Lin?" Emi asked as she saw Lin's eyebrows knit together in irritation.

"Just Lu and Gang stuffing their faces with Varri-cakes," Lin snarled, pointing to the two detectives, "I'm going to go straighten them out."

"I'm coming, I want to watch," Emi laughed as she followed Lin.

"Stop stuffing your mustaches with Varri-cakes and get to your post," Lin commanded with a pointed finger. Emi was trying hard not to laugh at the faces they were making. They had been completely caught off guard by the Chief's sudden presence that their faces were on the fine line between scared and surprised. They dropped their Varri-cakes to the floor, and stood up straight for the Chief.

"You got it boss," Gang said as he and Lu walked towards the Probending Arena.

"You two are the pinnacle of refinement," Lin frowned as she watched them leave.

"Their bellies have more folds than an origami convention," Emi smirked when Lin looked over at her with an impressed stare.

"I think you're getting the hang of my insults," Lin mused.

"What's the first one that comes to your head now?" Emi asked.

"Their such losers that the only time people are missing them is when their throwing rotten tomatoes," Lin immediately said. Emi only had a moment to let a small chuckle through the hand over her mouth before a car pulled up at the end of the red carpet. Emi's laughter immediately died when she saw President Raiko and his wife coming out of the car. He actually looked like he was there for the people the way that he was walking and acting. Emi wanted nothing more than to punch his face. Lin must have sensed this because she took Emi's hand in her's. Emi smiled at her before watching Varrick make his way towards the President and his wife. Emi couldn't hear anything that Varrick and Raiko were talking about over the yelling of the crowd as they walked down the red carpet and got their pictures taken.

"We better get into position," Lin said before leading Emi into the Arena with their hands still grasped together. Lin had chosen their spot perfectly so that they would have a clear view of where the President was sitting, where all their officers were, and where Varrick was sitting. Emi was happy to see that Lin was now taking her suspicions seriously, especially since she had to keep her eyes open for any evidence to help Mako get out of jail. She had tried, but failed, to get him out herself, so she was going to have to rely on cold, hard facts.

"I can't believe the last time we were here I was standing in the very back while you were standing in the very front next to Tenzin of all people," Emi said, laughing underneath her breath.

"Yeah, a lot has changed since then, hasn't it?" Lin agreed, "But let me tell you. You are way better than Saikhan ever was."

"I would be concerned if I wasn't. It's not hard to beat that guy in greatness."

Lin grinned. She was happy that Emi wasn't mad at her anymore. She would only admit it to Emi, but she really messed up. She had been incredibly lonely the 24 hours that Emi hadn't been beside her. She had yelled at everyone that ticked her off in the slightest because she just felt terrible. She wasn't going to make a mistake like that again.

They watched as Varrick walked out into the middle of the Probending Arena playing field where everyone could see him. Emi chose not to listen to his blathering about how he created something new, went through the judgemental critics, and making animals talk. She did, however, listen to the part about Southern Water Tribe injustice.

"He is a pretty good liar," Anju said, placing her head on Emi's shoulder, "But his mind betrays him."

"Good to know," Emi told her spirit friend as she watched Varrick make is way to his seat on the other side of the Arena. She would find her evidence.

The Chief of Police and the second in command watched the crowd, but couldn't help watching the mover every now and then. Emi was cringing almost through the entire thing. She almost gagged when the actor that was playing Raiko said "If there is one thing I love doing, it's helping people". They did this mover totally wrong.

"These are horrible actors," Emi whispered to Lin, "I could do a better job than these wannabes. You think I should become an actress?"

"Actors and actresses are fakes," Lin said with her arms crossed over her chest, "You, on the other hand, are not fake. You are the reality that keeps me sane, so please don't become an actress."

"Don't worry, I was just kidding," Emi grinned.

Nothing else happened for what felt like hours. The only thing that changed was Bolin and Asami who had gotten up when Juji (also known as Pabu) had 'died'. Emi rolled her eyes thinking that seeing his beloved pet 'dying' was just too much. Emi almost fell asleep on several occasions, but thankful Lin was there to shake her awake. She hadn't gotten any sleep last night since she had been looking for clues and had been trying to avoid Lin which meant she didn't go back to their condo. She was going to hibernate until the next Winter Solstice after this.

Finally something interesting happened when everyone heard a splash in the water that surrounded the Probending playing field below them. Emi and Lin leaned over the rail to see a man wearing Northern Water Tribe soldiers gear was in the drain. They then immediately searched for where he had come from. Their eyes landed on where President Raiko and the First Lady had been sitting. Bolin was there and bent three more Waterbenders out of the spectating booth and out onto the walkway that connect the playing field to the spectating portion of the Arena. Three of Emi's metalbending police officers rushed over to Lin waiting for orders for what to do.

"Secure the President, and call for backup immediately," Lin ordered them, before turning back to watch Bolin jump onto the walkway after the Waterbenders. They instantly started bending water at him, but he dodged and ducked.

"I'm going to help Bolin," Emi called to Lin and Anju, "Make sure Varrick doesn't get away."

This was what she said before jumping off the spectators balcony, and extending her cables. She lifted herself onto the Probending playing field.

"Wow this thing is a lot bigger when you're on top of it," Emi commented.

"I know right!" Bolin called to her before bending earth disks, that Probenders use, at the Waterbenders.

"Oh, I've always wanted to bend these," Emi squealed excitedly before bending one of the discs at the closest Waterbender. It hit him straight in the jaw, and he stumbled backwards. Emi wrapped her cables around him before flinging him into the ground. He was out cold, but his buddy wasn't. Bolin bent a disc at the Waterbender before he could complete his mission of bending an ice block at Emi. He lost his balance and with one final kick from Emi he fell into the drain. Bolin bent another disc at the last Waterbender, who then collided with one of the huge speakers used for the mover. Bolin levitated another disc threateningly.

"Tell me who sent you!" Bolin ordered.

"It was Varrick," the Waterbender said as he cowered in fear, "Please don't hurt me Nuktuk."

"I knew it!" Emi cried in happiness, "And I now have proof!"

"I think this is our que to exit," Varrick told his assistant Zhu Li, but they were stopped.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lin asked from her position in the threshold of the door that lead into Varrick's private, spectating box. There were multiple metalbending cops behind her, and she was happy and angry. She was angry because she had actually trusted Varrick at some point in time, but was happy because Emi was happy and because it proved that Mako was innocent.

Lin ordered her officers to arrest Varrick, Zhu Li, and his little, waterbending helpers. Emi bent Bolin and herself back onto the spectators balcony, and had to protect him from his crazy fans until some of her officers could help her.

"Not bad, Bolin," Emi complimented, "Nice job figuring out that Raiko was in danger."

"Yeah, so long story short," Bolin said, explaining how he figured it out, "I was on the balcony outside with Asami when I saw this random boat tethered to the Arena, so I decided to check it out. I then almost slipped on a Varri-cake, and found these two detectives that were tied up in a locker and told me that those waterbending guys were going after the President. And… well, you know the rest."

"Let me guess," Emi smirked, "One of the detectives was tall, and the other was stubby, and they both had stupid mustaches and Varri-cake jelly smudged all over their faces."  
"Wow, are you psychic?" Bolin asked in amazement.

"No, I'm just observant," Emi sighed with an irritated frown. She raised an eyebrow as she saw Lin and Raiko walking out of the arena's front doors. Emi excused herself from Bolin, and followed them.

"I assure you President Raiko, it won't happen again."

Emi gritted her teeth as she came out to Raiko yelling at Lin.

"It better not," the freaked out President said as he pointed at Lin, "How could you not see this coming."

"We're not fortune tellers," Emi said as she came to defend Lin, "The criminals were taken into custody, no citizens were harmed, and you weren't either. I say that's a win."

"Why did he do it?" Raiko asked, immediately deciding to drop the conversation with Emi. "He would drop his whole business for what exactly?"

"For the South," Emi answered, "His home… and for the money that comes out of wars for the manufacturers."

"Varrick's plan was to kidnap you, and blame it on the North," Lin continued, "Then Republic City would have no choice but to join the war on the side of the South."

"I can't believe Varrick would do something like this," Raiko said, "And no one saw it coming."

"Actually someone did," Emi corrected the President, "Do you by chance remember Mako? The young B-cop who was dating the Avatar."

Raiko scratched his chin in thought for a moment before looking at Lin in realization.

"You've got a great officer on your hands," he told her.

"He's one of the best," Lin agreed before smiling at Emi. Emi smiled back, knowing that this was part of Lin's apology.

Suddenly the groan of a sky Bison filled the air, and everyone looked up. Oogie, Tenzin's bison, landed in front of the Arena, and Avatar Korra jumped off his back. Lin, Emi, and Raiko rushed down the steps to meet them.

"President Raiko," Korra called out with urgency as she rushed over to them.

"Avatar Korra, what's wrong?" the President asked.

"Sir, I know I've asked for your help before, but things have changed," Korra told him, "Unalaq doesn't just want to take over the South anymore. He wants to destroy the whole world." Everyone stood in silence for a minute.

"Well that's just fantastic now isn't it," Emi said in sarcastic, cheerful voice before whispering to Lin. "I hope we get paid overtime for this."

Lin chuckled before one of her officers came over.

"We're ready to leave Chief whenever you are," he said.

"You two take Varrick and his associates to the Police Station, and I'll stay here," Raiko ordered Lin and Emi, which neither of them were fond of.

"As you wish, sir," Lin had to work really hard not to say that with a snarl. Emi followed Lin as they started to walk towards trucks that Emi guessed held the criminals. Emi turned just in time to see Bumi and a woman with watertribe skin and clothing and white hair climbing down from Oogie's back as Tenzin airbent himself to the ground.

"Who's that?" Emi asked Lin about the mystery, watertribe woman.

"That's Kya," Lin automatically said, "She's Aang's second oldest child, and a waterbender."

"She looks like fun," Emi commented, and then smirked when she saw Lin narrow her eyebrows in disapproval.

"She's runs around the world, she's crazy with her spiritual stuff, and never cares about anyone other than herself," Lin said, her voice rising a little. "She's extremely unreliable."

"Woah, easy Lin," Emi chuckled before wrapping her arm around Lin's waist and pulling her close. "I have all I want right here."

Lin rolled her eyes, but Emi caught the slightest tug at the corners of her lips and the reddening of her cheeks. Lin knew Emi had noticed, but chose not to show it. As they made their way to the police trucks, Lin remembered something.

"By the way, where is your spirit friend?" Lin asked her girlfriend.

"She said something about going back to the spirit world to see what was happening," Emi answered, "And she said she would report back to us."

"That'll be good, especially if what Korra says is true," Lin said.

They got into one of the trucks, and sped away to the Police Department. Once there they led Varrick, Zhu Li, and their waterbenders into the jailhouse next to the Police Station. The entire way there… Varrick was talking.

"So I know that what I did seemed bad, but there's a good side to all of this," He said as he gestured with his cuffed hands. "I know that none of you like Raiko, and that he drives you up the wall. Wouldn't it have been great to get away from him for a couple of days?"

"You realize you are talking to the top two highest positions in this department, right?" Lin asked. Her voice showed nothing more than disinterest. She was in the lead with Emi pulling Varrick by the arm behind her, and behind Emi were some of her other officers leading the rest of the criminals. Emi looked over her shoulder, and gave a 'what in the spirits is he doing?' kind of look to Akira. Akira shrugged his shoulders in a 'I have no clue' kind of gesture as he pulled Zhu Li along.

"I know, and that's why I have to ask you," Varrick said with a supposed charming smile, "When did your hair go grey because you move like your in your thirties, but you look like your in your sixties."

With that he got a hard swipe to the back of his head.

"Ow!" Varrick said as he turned to Emi, "Okay that was uncalled for."

"Actually it was, sir," Zhu Li told her boss.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Zhu Li!" Varrick told his assistant.

Emi looked between the two for a moment in confusion.

"How did you ever become a millionaire when your so dumb?" Emi asked him, but when he opened his mouth to speak she smacked the back of his head again. "Shut up."

"All I wanted to say is that I built this prison," Varrick said, gesturing to the hallway they were walking in.

"Okay, and?" Lin asked, now exceedingly bored.

"Which means I have my own cell in here, and I would be ever so appreciative if you would put me and Zhu Li in there," Varrick said.

Lin turned to Emi with a questioning look.

"He's actual not lying about that," Emi told Lin, "All the prisoners that pass by it all ask if they can stay in it."

"Well at least I got the decoration right," Varrick said, complimenting himself, "It's actually right here."

The group stopped, and Lin raised an eyebrow at what she saw. There was a fully furnished, carpeted, and decorated room within _her_ prison. It had a four poster bed, maroon carpet, a desk, a chest of drawers, a comfy looking chair and table, and even a chandelier.

"This is ridiculous," Lin whispered to Emi, "How did I not know about this?"

"You don't come down here very often I guess," Emi whispered back, "I come down here all the time."

They unlocked the door to the fancy cell, and allowed Varrick and Zhu Li to enter. After locking the door and ordering the other officers around them to take the waterbenders to their own cells, Lin crossed her arms and shook her head at Varrick.

"Why is there a 5 star hotel room in my prison?" She asked the inventor.

"Because I just had that weird vibe that I would be in here someday," Varrick told the Chief of Police, "I guess I got one thing right, right?"

The two woman just exchanged glances before walking back down the way they came. They could hear Varrick telling Zhu Li to make some cookies as the walked away.

They walked back to the Police Station and into the forum where they were met by Bolin, Asami, Bumi, Tenzin, and the Avatar.

"Can I help you?" Lin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We came to tell Mako about what happened at the Arena, and hopefully get him out of jail?" Bolin asked the Chief of Police. Lin looked to Emi, who tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at her. Lin rolled her eyes, and knew that was Emi's warning stare.

"Yes, you can get him out of jail," Lin told the other earthbender. As if on cue, the metalbending officers that had taken the waterbenders to their cells came back.

"They're in their cells, Chief," Akira told Lin.

"Good, now take Bolin back down into the Police Station cells, and help him get Mako out," Lin told Akira. Akira saluted her, and Bolin followed him as they began to walk in the opposite direction. As the rest of the metalbending officers turned to leave, Lin stopped them.

"You all stay here, but one of you go get Lu and Gang," Lin ordered. Naoko saluted before walking away to find the mustache duo.

"Why are you getting them?" Emi asked her girlfriend quietly.

"You'll see," Lin assured Emi with a cheeky smile.

Emi had to roll her eyes before her face turned into a pout. If there was one thing she wasn't good at, it was being patient. Thankfully it didn't take long for Lu and Gang to get there, and for once they were silent. Emi guessed that the waterbenders getting the best of them hurt their pride a little. Next came Akira, who was followed closely by Mako and Bolin. Lin started clapping, and everyone else followed her lead. They applauded Mako, and Emi was happy he finally got the praise he deserved.

"Nice job Mako, you're going to make a great detective," Lin said, surprising Emi, Lu, Gang, and especially Mako.

"But Chief there aren't any detective openings right now," Gang told her. Lin looked over at Emi slyly before saying:

"Actually we've got two openings."

Emi silently shook her fists happily. No more Lu and Gang, and the Republic City Police Department gained a great detective. Emi smiled at Mako, who looked happier than Emi had ever seen him. He smiled back at her before giving an even bigger smile to Asami, who was standing just behind Emi. Emi knew that ever since Korra and Mako broke up and Mako had taken on the Varrick case that he and Asami had started to get close again. Maybe they would get back together again.

Suddenly Korra broke from the crowd, and kissed Mako on the lips. Bolin stared in shock, and Asami glared angrily.

Or maybe not…

"Mako I missed you so much," Korra told the firebender. Lin and Emi looked at each other in confusion.

"Did she kick his desk across the room because she was mad at him just days ago?" Lin asked Emi.

"Yep, and they broke up over it," Emi replied before they both turned to Tenzin for an explanation. He pointed to Korra, and then said:

"I think she's about to explain."

"Korra, hey… I… a… missed you too," Mako said his face expressing how confused he was, "So you're not still mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad?" Korra asked in all innocents.

"We had that fight before you left, remember?" Mako asked.

"No, not really" Korra said as she looked to the floor, "I got attacked by a dark spirit and I lost my memory for a little while. Maybe it hasn't all come back yet. Was it a bad fight?"

"A…." Mako said, debating, and he looked around at all the faces watching them. Emi narrowed her eyes at him, and put her hands on her hips. Apparently Mako didn't get her message because he said: "No, no. It wasn't that bad."

Emi face palmed her forehead in irritation. This was not going to end well at all.

Tenzin then stepped forward, and addressed the Avatar.

"Korra, we don't have that much time. We need to figure out how to deal with Unalaq."

Bolin, for once, got an idea that was helpful.

"I think I know just the man to talk to," Bolin said before turning to Emi and Lin. "If it's alright with you Chief Beifong, can we go talk to Varrick."

"You can talk to him if it will help keep my city safe," Lin told him, "But if you are going to go yell at him for the mess he caused than I'm going to throw you in the same cell as him and you'll have to listen to him talking until someone comes to bust you out."

Emi giggled as she saw Team Avatar inwardly cringe. Being locked in a cell with Varrick could be called a method of torture.

"We're only going to ask him a couple questions concerning Unalaq," Korra said, "Please Lin."

"Fine," Lin said before gesturing to the front doors of the Station, "Follow me."

Team Avatar followed Lin and Emi into the jailhouse and down many corridors until they made it to the level Varrick was on. As Emi and Lin walked towards Varrick's cell, they could hear music.

"He even has a radio?" Emi asked in astonishment.

"Guys! Hey!" Varrick greeted them as they came in front of the cell's bars. "What do you think? Varrick Industries built this prison, and I had this cell made special. I had a feeling I would end up here one day."

Emi rolled her eyes as Varrick gave a charming smile. She had had a feeling herself that Varrick would become a fully functional criminal if she was being completely honest.

"Zhu Li!" Varrick cried making everyone jump. "Come on! We've got guests! Wipe up a pot of that green tea I love."

"Yes, sir," Zhu Li said with a bow before moving to the chest of drawers that Emi had seen earlier.

"Zhu Li's in prison with you?" Korra asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Of course," Varrick said like it was the most common thing in the world. "I don't go anywhere without my assistant, do you?"

"We're not interested in your tea, and this isn't a friendly visit," Mako said with a bit of bite in his voice. He had every right to be mad since he was falsely put in jail by this guy.

"Don't tell me you guys are still mad about everything that happened," Varrick said like he was surprised by their attitudes. "I did some good things too. Korra, who warned you about Unalaq. I did. Bolin, who got you into the Movers? I did. Asami, who saved your company? I did. Mako, who got you thrown in jail? I did! Oh yeah I guess that was a bad thing."

"He may be a criminal, but he can be really funny," Emi whispered to Lin as she tried to cover up her giggles.

"You stole everything from me, and you tried to kidnap the President," Asami reminded him, "Those are pretty bad too."

"I wasn't going to hurt him," Varrick said, as he tried, but failed, to defend himself. "I just needed to start a war. Well a bigger war."

"Well we're going to end it," Bolin said like he was rehearsing a line for one of his Movers. "Where is all the stuff you stole from Asami?"

"The Future Industries stuff?" Varrick asked, "It's on my battleship."

"You have a battleship?" Korra asked in confusion.

"And do you have a license for it?" Emi asked with a pointed finger.

"One, I don't know if I have a license for it, and two… of course I have a battleship!" Varrick said with excitedly raised arms. "I bought the first one they made. Named her the Zhu Li."

"You named your battleship after your assistant?" Emi asked him.

"Yep, they're both cold, heartless war machines," Varrick answered.

"You're tea, sir," Zhu Li said as she set down the tea cup and saucer on the table that was next to the chair Varrick was sitting in. He picked up the tea cup before he continued to talk.

"Look," He said as he stared down into the dark green liquid, "I'm truly sorry for the mess I caused. Let me make it up to you. Take Zhu Li."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, especially Zhu Li's. Varrick realized there was a miscommunication, and corrected it.

"My battleship," he said hurriedly, "It's yours, and everything on it."

"It's not the fleet we were looking for, but it's the next best thing," Korra said positively.

"Alright!" Bolin said excitedly as he punched a fist into the air, "Team Avatar is back in business." Bolin reached around, and pulled Korra, Asami, and Mako into a hug that made Emi smile.

"Good luck to you guys, but if what Korra says is true, we need to get the city ready for any attack," Emi told the teens.

"Good luck to you too, and thank you for the promotion Chief," Mako told Lin.

"You deserved it kid, but make sure as soon as that mess in the South is over with you get ready to work. I need the best in my city," Lin ordered the firebender.

"Will do Chief," he said with a salute.

Lin nodded her head before she turned to leave with Emi next to her. Emi took a hold of Lin's hand, and rubbed her knuckles gently. Lin smiled at the contact, and held Emi's hand tighter.

"I hope that you know that when you say get the city ready for attack you know that it's just going to be a lot of phone calls, right?" Lin asked her girlfriend.

"Oh boy do I," Emi grumbled as the walked back to their offices.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

 **Last chapter of Book 2, unfortunately. But Book 3 is going to be way better than my previous books, in my opinion, but it's not quite done yet. It'll be a little while until I'll be able to upload it, but it will be worth the wait. Plus, it'll be a longer one too, so the chapters will be longer as well. I will never be able to turn away from this couple for very long! Please feel free to review, and enjoy this last chapter!**

"So why are we walking to the docks again?" Emi asked Lin as they walked down the sidewalk.

"General Iroh of the United Forces os going to meet us there," Lin explained, "We need him to be ready for any attacks by the Northerners."

"Got it," Emi said as they continued to walk. They had only taken one more step when a bright light appeared in front of them. Both Police officers gave a cry of surprise before falling backwards. Anju transformed in front of them, and her levitating body swirled around in the air in front of them. Lin and Emi grumbled as they got to their feet.

"Do you make a hobby of knocking people over?" Emi asked the spirit.

"I'm sorry but this is urgent," Anju said as she looked around her in a paranoid kind of way, "Harmonic Convergence is happening in mere minutes, and the Avatar is losing."

"Wait what?" Emi asked in puzzlement, "What's Harmonic Convergence, and what is the Avatar losing?"

"Harmonic Convergence happens every 10,000 years and it is when the planets in this Solar System aline and increase the amount of spiritual energy on Earth," the spirit explain quickly, "The North and South Spirit Portals will then merge in the Spirit World, but it hasn't happened that way for centuries. The First Avatar closed the spirit portals, but now Avatar Korra has been tricked into opening them. Vaatu will escape!"

"Who's Vaatu?" Lin asked. The two officers were starting to panic as the usually calm spirit started to loose her nerve.

"Vaatu is the darkness of the Dark Spirits, and will not rest until the world as been destroyed!" Anju cried as she wrapped her body around Emi. Emi pet the spirit's head gently. Although Anju was very intelligent, Emi knew, from what Anju told her, that the spirit was only mere weeks old. They are born with knowledge, but Anju was just a baby.

"It's alright Anju, I'm sure Korra is doing everything in her power to stop this Dark Avatar," Emi reassured the little spirit.

"But she is too late, here it comes…" Anju whimpered as she hid her head in Emi's arms. Emi was about to ask what she meant by that when the sound of surprised cries came to her ears. Lin and Emi turned around, and looked down the street to see a wave of violet energy and a strong wind current coming their way. They stood their ground as the energy and air passed over them with enough strength to knock them down if they hadn't been ready for it. They then looked up to see that the sky was violet, and that what looked to be the Northern Lights, but were green, moving through the violet.

"Okay that's not normal right, or is this something that happens in Republic City sometimes?" Emi asked as she clutched Anju to her chest.

"This is definitely not normal," Lin told Emi, "In all my years I've never seen the sky turn purple."

"That's all the spirit energy from when the Portals created the Convergence," Anju explained so more of her small form shook. "If that energy is destabilized by a being of great power, it will catastrophic. If Vaatu comes, we will all be swiped off the face of the planet."

"It's okay, it's okay Anju," Emi said, trying to sooth the frightened spirit. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, and you can be very helpful to us. We need to get to Iroh now. Your knowledge will prove useful."

"But as of right now, we need to move," Lin said before she bent herself onto the electrical lines. Emi quickly followed.

"Go over it again."

President Raiko was in the control center of one of Republic City's airships with Lin Beifong, Captain Emilia, and Anju, but Anju was invisible as she wrapped around Emi's neck and chest. They were going over where all their people were, citizen, officer, or soldier.

"We've got all airships in the air," Emi said as she read off of her list. "We've got officers blocking off all main roads, we've told everyone over radio, speakers, and newspapers to stay indoors, we've got roads into the city closed, we've got bridges closed, and the only thing we are waiting for is the all clear from General Iroh on his ships."

President Raiko picked up his radio, and contacted Iroh.

"General Iroh are your ships in position?"

"Yes, Mr. President," Iroh was heard over the speaker, "But I need to know what kind of enemy we're dealing with."

As if on cue, a blast of bright, violet light cut through the already violet and green sky. Emi, Lin, and Raiko shielded their eyes as whatever it was hit the water of the Republic City Bay, and created a monstrous wave. Emi rushed to the window of the airship, and her chin dropped to the floor. A being of red and black that stood taller than any one of Republic City's skyscrapers lifted his ugly head. It had glowing eyes, a glowing red symbol on its chest, and what looked to be red tendrils coming out of its back.

"Anju, what is that thing?" Emi asked the spirit.

"That is Vaatu and Unalaq fused together," Anju whimpered, "He is UnaVaatu."

They could do nothing but watch in horror as UnaVaatu stood up to his tallest height.

"It's time to take back the Physical World," he said loud enough for all of Republic City to hear him. Emi watched as UnaVaatu started to walk through the Bay's waters towards Iroh's ships that were stationed in from of the bridges that seperated the Bay from Republic City's harbor. As soon as the Dark Avatar was within range, the General rained fire down on him. Nothing seemed to affect the giant as he only drew nearer. He only stopped to waterbend a huge wave that crashed into the ships, driving them off course. It took him only a few, huge steps for him to reach Avatar Aang's Memorial Island Statue.

"Oh no," Emi whispered as UnaVaatu took a hold of the statue with both his hands and the tendrils on his back, and tipped the statue into the Bay. The statue was big enough so that it hit the Bay's bottom, but it didn't sink all the way.

Emi ears picked up something else, and she knew that noise.

"We need to call off the planes," Emi told Lin.

"Too late," Lin said as she pointed out the airship's window. Emi watched as a squadron of planes flew over the Dark Avatar. Emi gasped as UnaVaatu took a hold of one of the planes with his tendrils, and smashed into the water. Emi let out a sigh of relief when she saw the pilot's parachute in the sky.

"It's going to destroy the entire city," Raiko said helplessly.

At that moment, UnaVaatu turned his head upwards towards their airship.

"Either you speak to loud, or that monster has really good ears," Emi said. Anju continued to shake against her, and UnaVaatu reared his ugly head.

"Energy beam! Energy beam!" Anju whispered frantically.

"Energy beam?" Emi asked questioningly, but she didn't need to ask. UnaVaatu crossed his arms over his chest before he shot beam of purple light at them. It came from his chest, and caused the symbols on his body to glow purple as well. Emi understood what Anju meant by energy beam as a ray of purple light shot from the Dark Spirit's chest right at them. It thankfully missed the front of the airship, but it did end up hitting the tail. The tail caught fire as alarms started to sound on the deck. Everyone on the deck held on to the railings as the ship started to go down. Lin crawled, using the railing, to the switch at that back of the deck that was the emergency hangar door opener. She pulled it, and held onto it as a makeshift rail as she gestured to the now open door.

"We're going down!" She yelled as her metalbenders jumped out of the door as swung on their caples to nearby rooftops. Emi stopped, and looked back at Lin before she jumped. Lin looked at Raiko then back at Emi.

"You go!" she told Captain, "I've got him."

Emi nodded before placing a hand over Anju and jumping out the door. She curled her cables around a chimney of one of the building next to her, and swung onto the roof. She immediately turned to see Lin, who was holding onto Raiko and vise versa, jumping out the door as well and swinging over to another roof. With the added weight it took Lin longer to come to a complete stop. After seeing that Lin was okay, Emi turned her attention back to UnaVaatu. He was doing something weird again with his arms.

He made some gesture, and it caused the tendrils on his back to curled down his arms and into the earth underneath the water of the Bay. Emi watched in terror as green vines sprouted from the water, and wrapped around buildings nearest to the harbor. Emi watched as the vines wrapped around the beautiful, glowing yellow Harmony Tower, and as more vines wrapped and crashed into multiple other buildings, including the jailhouse. _Well_ , Emi thought with annoyance, _there goes all my hard work down the drain. It took me forever to catch those guys_.

UnaVaatu didn't move from his position in the Bay, but his vines did the work for him. They moved throughout the city, and climbed everything in their path. Emi was beginning to think it was the end of Republic City, there was nothing they could do, but a new, bright blue light stopped her.

Something big fell from the sky, and crashed into the Dark Avatar. Emi's mouth dropped yet again when a giant blue version of Korra stretched to her fullest height and matched UnaVaatu's. Speaking of the Dark Avatar, he rose back out of the water, and turned to face Korra again. Emi recognised his movements as the ones he used before blasting their airship with his energy beam, and thankfully Korra recognized them too. As UnaVaatu blasted his energy beam, Korra's own beam of energy erupted from her chest. They collided, and created a light show that was so bright Emi had to close her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and the metalbender had to shield her eyes to see who it was.

"I gave Raiko to the patrols below!" Lin yelled at Emi so she could hear her over the noise the collision was making. "What in the world is happening?!"

"I have no idea, but whatever it is, it's bright!" Emi yelled back at Lin. Emi could here Lin laughing before the light disappeared. Emi watched as UnaVaatu went flying across the Bay, away from Republic City. This was all Emi was able to see before Lin wrapped her arm around Emi's shoulders to pull her to her feet.

"We need to get to the Kyoshi Bridge," Lin said, "Iroh will meet us there."

With that said, the two jumped down to the streets below. They ran down road after road which were thankfully empty. Vines came out of the ground at one occasion, and they had had to turn around and go a different way. Emi felt Anju uncoil herself from around her chest. The spirits head turned back and forth like a dog that could smell something new and interesting.

"There is a life energy nearby that is familiar to you," The spirit told Emi, "And she is extremely afraid and slightly injured."

Emi quickly looked around, but saw no one. Lin, after noticing that Emi had stopped running, ran back towards her.

"What are you doing?" Lin asked, "We need to get to the bridge."

"Do you feel anyone?" Emi asked the Chief of Police, "My seismic sense is still not as good as yours."

Lin uncovered her foot, and hit it against the concrete of they deserted street. Her eyes popped open as soon as they had closed.

"I do sense someone, and it's a child," Lin said, as she ran down an alleyway that had an entrance off of the road they were on. Emi and Anju followed Lin, and they soon came to an avalanche of rock seemed to have fallen off a building above. Emi could now feel the fast heartbeat underneath the rock, and could hear the sound of crying kid. Lin and Emi made short work of the rocks, and found who was buried underneath.

"Hisa!" Emi cried immediately as she scooped up the child. Pika, the owlcat lay in the girl's arms, but neither earthbender could feel a heartbeat."What's hurt sweetie?" Emi asked the crying child.

"My… leg…" the girl sniffed, "I can't move it."

Emi looked down at the leg, and gently lifted it. It was badly swollen, and obviously broken.

"It's going to be alright sweetie," Emi said as she rubbed circles on the girl's back, "We just need to get you somewhere safe, okay?"

The girl nodded, but she looked sadly down at her dead feline friend. Lin noticed the girl's stare, and gently picked up the deceased owlcat.

"We're going to give her a proper burial, okay?" The Chief of Police smiled reassuringly at the sniffling child. Hisa just nodded through her continuous tears as the two officers started running.

As they made it to the bridge, they noticed the large number of United Forces Soldiers that had climbed the bridge after their ships and either capsized or sunk. One of these soldiers was the General, who was talking to President Raiko. Three more of these soldiers were Emi's brothers that instantly ran over to them.

"I need a healer immediately," She told them, "This poor girl has a broken leg."

"This way," Ken said without hesitation, and the five of them followed. Emi placed Hisa on the cot in the tent that the healer had told her to, and she immediately got to work with her glowing, blue water. Emi watched over the girl for the entire time. Anju used some of her spirit energy to turn the water the healer used into spirit water, and thankfully the healer didn't notice the change. Emi was surprised when Hisa reach towards Anju's floating form.

"Your beautiful," Hisa told the spirit, and Anju floated nearer to the outstretched hand. Hisa smoothed down Anju's feathers, and the healer looked questioningly at the girl.

"Maybe she got a hit to the head," she said, "I can do a round of healing up there too."

"No need," Emi assured the healer, "She's not crazy. It's alright Anju, you can show yourself."

Anju looked at Emi with a tilted head, and Emi showed Anju through her spiritual energy that she was telling the truth. Anju revealed herself to the whole tent, and the healer and Emi's brothers took a step back. The healer decided not to comment, and went back to her work. She had obviously seen spirits before, but had been surprised by the fact that there was one in the tent. Emi's brothers on the other hand started gaping in surprise which morphed into asking questions, but Emi silenced them as she went back to comforting Hisa.

Lin watched Emi take care of the girl, and noticed how much Emi loved her. Emi was nice to everyone she met, but this youngling had a special place in her heart. The poor thing was an orphan, and had never had any motherly love. Lin guessed that Emi wanted to give her the love she had never had, and Lin found she loved her even more for it.

After the girl's leg had gotten bandaged and she was given crutches, everyone exited the tent. Emi helped the girl figure out how to use the crutches. She fell forward once, but her fall was broken by the 3 firebending soldiers who had piled up on top of each other so the girl's fall hadn't hurt at all. The girl laughed as the three men as they tried to get up afterwards, but found it difficult. Emi kept saying "I'm not related to them" as they continued to struggle. Lin smiled, but knew she had to go talk to Raiko about the next course of action. They had heard that while they were in the tent that the huge red and black giant, that they knew now was named UnaVaatu, had vanished in a trail of golden flakes after the blue version of Korra had used some spirit magic on him. Lin knew she would be able to get a better explanation from one of the Avatar's associates or friends later, but knew that it wasn't necessary right now. She was just happy that her love and her city were all relatively in one piece.

"Beifong!"

Lin, annoyed, directed her attention to the President, who was standing a bit far away.

"Come over here."

"In a minute Mr. President," Lin said, and before he could retaliate she walked over to Emi and the laughing girl. Emi's brothers were now putting on a play for the kid that involved them falling over and making funny faces. Lin hugged Emi around the shoulders, and Emi leaned into the embrace. Lin looked down at the girl in front of them before whispering to her girlfriend:

"What should we do about Hisa?"

"I don't know," Emi said with a sigh, "She's terrified of orphanages, you know as well as I do that she was lying about having someone that she goes to every night that gives her a place to sleep, and she's far too young to live on the streets by herself."

Lin looked at the girl then looked at the sorrowful but loving look that Emi gave the child.

"We could foster her."

Emi looked at Lin in shock.

"You mean it?"

"Well of course. She makes you happy, and I know we can make her happy. She might need to come to the station every now and then but we can work around that."

Emi surprised Lin by giving her a bone crushing hug.

"I love you so much!"

Lin chuckled and sighed into the hug.

"I love you too Em."

"Oh can I tell her?" Emi asked as she jumped up and down in excitement.

"Be my guest," Lin told her as she gestured to the girl. Emi smiled, and leaned down so she was eye level with her.

"Hisa, darling, we're not going to take you to the orphanage."

"You're not?" Hisa asked happily.

"Nope, you're going to come home with us. We're going to foster you."

"Really?" Hisa asked, "You want to foster me?"

"We don't want you to go to the orphanage either sweetie, so you're going to come live with us and we're going to give you the life you deserve."

Hisa's face faltered for minute like she remembered something.

"Does that mean I have to go to school?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but yes," Emi answered, "But you'll make friends, and learn a lot of interesting things. We can go on trips, and see other nations. We'll have a blast!"

"I've always wanted to got to the Fire Nation," Hisa confessed.

"Then we'll go to the Fire Nation!" Emi said enthusiastically. "Then you'll get to see the palace, the volcanoes, and Lin will get to meet my parents."

"Wait, what?" Lin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Can I come too?" Anju asked as she floated around their heads.

"Of course you can!" Emily told the spirit before scratching her chin in thought, "How much would a spirit's ticket cost?"

"I don't think a spirit costs anything transportation wise in the Physical World," Anju said.

"Okay, that works," Emi said before bring the abnormal group into a hug, "Life is so much more fun with a family!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Good News!**

 **After a long wait, I've finally uploaded Book 3. Check out my account to find it, and please read the bold paragraph before!**


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